Extending Expectancy Theory to Food Intake: Effect of a Simulated Fast-Food Restaurant on Highly and Minimally Processed Food Expectancies

Unhealthy diets are widespread and linked to a number of detrimental clinical outcomes. The current preregistered experiment extended expectancy theory into the study of food intake; specifically, we tested whether a fast-food restaurant affects food expectancies, or the emotions one expects to feel while eating highly processed foods (e.g., pizza) and minimally processed foods (e.g., carrots). Participants (N = 200, mean age = 18.79 years) entered a simulated fast-food restaurant or a neutral space, completed questionnaires, and engaged in a bogus taste test. The simulated fast-food restaurant increased positive highly processed food expectancies (d = 0.29). Palatable eating coping motives scores did not moderate the effect; however, this clinically relevant pattern of eating behavior was associated with greater positive highly processed food expectancies. In addition, there was an indirect effect of the fast-food restaurant on ad libitum food intake through positive highly processed food expectancies. Reducing positive highly processed food expectancies may improve diet, which may broadly affect health.