Modeling influences on eating behavior

Findings may be important for treating obesity, if modeling also occurs in natural situations and subjects who ate with a high consumption male or female confederate-model did not differ from the other groups in number of crackers eaten.

Abstract

Some aspects of social influence on eating behavior have been examined but no studies have looked at direct influences of one person's eating behavior on that of another. Two experiments assessed whether people model rate of eating and amount of food consumed by another person. In Experiment I, female college students ate a standardized luncheon with a confederate-model peer, who ate her lunch at a predetermined fast (12 min) or slow (25 min) rate. Subjects who ate with fast-eating confederate-models consumed their lunches at a significantly faster rate than subjects who ate with slow-eating confederate-models. In Experiment II, same and opposite sex pairs of subjects and confederate-models participated in a "cracker tasting" task. The confederate-model ate either a high (40) or low (10) number of crackers in 7 min. Subjects eating with a high consumption male confederate-model ate more crackers than subjects who ate with a low consumption male or female confederate-model. But, subjects who ate with a high consumption female confederate-model did not differ from the other groups in number of crackers eaten. These findings may be important for treating obesity, if modeling also occurs in natural situations.