The Influence of Information on Food Intake and People Eating Together on the Amount of Food Consumed

Abstract

  In this study, we tested the hypothesis that eating together has a stronger influence on food intake than having information on others' food intake. Sixteen women were allowed to eat as many snacks as they liked in four minutes under four conditions: (1) Eating alone while looking at information that others ate a lot; (2) Eating alone while looking at information that others ate a little; (3) Eating with others while looking at information that others ate a lot; and (4) Eating with other people while looking at information that others ate a little. The number of snacks eaten under each condition was calculated. Under conditions 2 and 4, 11.4 ± 7.8 and 11.9 ± 7.0 snacks were consumed, respectively. For conditions 1 and 3, 14.1 ± 6.6 and 10.0 ± 4.6 snacks were eaten, respectively. Compared to when eating alone, subjects ate fewer snacks when they ate with other people. Therefore, it may be deduced that this study supports the hypothesis that social norms influence individual behavior.