Choose your food

This is the age of the individualist. We all like to think that we are noble and independent creatures with a mind of our own and something to say. Individuality is expressed in websites and blogs, in Forums and feedback, in self-published e-books, and essays on websites. You can email, instant message, join in live chats, and generally be connected while constantly reaffirming an individual identity. Technology and social media ensure that the individual can hear and be heard. Yet underneath the hysterically hyperbolic focus on individuality of the age, there remains a fundamental truth of human existence; we are shaped by the environment in which we exist. That environment may be organic, inert, or human and a new study has shown that even something as apparently individual as your food choices can be shaped by the people around you.

The new research involved analysis of 15 previous studies that examined whether other people’s food habits or choices influenced an individual’s food intake levels or food choices. The researchers found consistent evidence that social norms do influence an individual’s food choices.

The studies revealed that if a person is given information about whether other people make high or low calorie food choices, they are likely to make similar choices. Additionally, if people were told that other people were eating larger amounts of food, they were also likely to eat large amounts of food. These influences occurred even when people said they were not aware of or influenced by the food choices of others.

The theory is that food choice is way of reinforcing your place in a social group, just like clothing choice or house choice or car choice. These social mechanisms work, according to the researchers, even when you are alone, or when you are not aware of them.

This might be a little scary when you consider some of the norms that exist around food in certain parts of society but it also makes the groundswell of support for local, sustainable, and healthy food even more encouraging. It also points to where public policy could turn its attention; rather than just preaching healthy eating, a message that other people are eating healthily could have sub-conscious positive effects.