Strategies to improve the Willingness to Taste: The moderating role of children's Reward Sensitivity.
The present study investigates the effectiveness of different strategies to improve Willingness to Taste disliked vegetables and the moderating role of Reward Sensitivity. Preschool children (N = 204; age: M = 4.48, SD = 1.01) were randomly allocated to one of four different Willingness to Taste strategies. The findings indicate that first, Willingness to Taste is higher in the modelling and reward strategies compared to neutral instructions. Second, there is a differential effect of Willingness to Taste strategies dependent upon individual differences: children high in Reward Sensitivity were more likely to taste immediately when rewarded, while children low in Reward Sensitivity were more willing to taste when verbally encouraged, but with hesitation. This article thus highlights the roles of both individual differences and behavioral techniques for promoting a healthy diet in children.
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: Laura.Vandeweghe@Ugent.be.
Laura
L
Vandeweghe
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: Sandra.Verbeken@Ugent.be.
Sandra
S
Verbeken
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: Ellen.Moens@Ugent.be.
Ellen
E
Moens
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: Leentje.Vervoort@Ugent.be.
Leentje
L
Vervoort
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: Caroline.Braet@ugent.be.
Caroline
C
Braet
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003710:Demography; D000072001:Diet, Healthy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D007206:Individuality; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D012057:Reinforcement, Verbal; D012201:Reward; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D014675:Vegetables
Food acceptance; Individual characteristics; Preschoolers