When nudgees become nudgers: Exploring the use of self-nudging to promote fruit intake
van Rookhuijzen,M de Vet,E Gort,G Adriaanse,MA
van Rookhuijzen,M
de Vet,E
Gort,G
Adriaanse,MA
Abstract
The current study explored (1) the immediate and prolonged effects of self-nudges promoting fruit intake in the home environment, (2) whether the effect of self-nudges on fruit intake persists after self-nudges are no longer used (i.e. a temporal spillover effect) and (3) whether self-nudges can install healthy eating habits that, in turn, explain the temporal spillover effect. Participants (N = 331) were randomly assigned to either a control or self-nudge condition in which they had to choose a self-nudge promoting fruit consumption for 8 weeks. Thereafter, participants were asked to remove the self-nudge for 1 week to assess a possible temporal spillover effect. Results showed a positive effect of the self-nudges on fruit consumption right after implementation that continued during the 8 weeks in which the self-nudge was implemented, which was accompanied by an increase in fruit intake habit strength. However, a mixed picture emerged regarding the temporal spillover effect and no support was found for a mediation effect of habit strength. Although this study is only a first exploration of self-nudging to increase healthy food consumption, results indicate that self-nudging may be a promising extension of traditional nudging that can influence behaviour beyond out-of-home settings.
Description
Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Applied Psychology.
Date
2023-11
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
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Journal Issue
Keywords
Choice architecture, Food choice, Habit formation, Self-nudge, Temporal spillover
Citation
van Rookhuijzen, M, de Vet, E, Gort, G & Adriaanse, MA 2023, 'When nudgees become nudgers : Exploring the use of self-nudging to promote fruit intake', Applied Psychology-Health and Well Being, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 1714-1732. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12464
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess