While the interest in smart shopping carts is growing, both retailers and consumer groups have concerns about how real-time spending feedback will influence shopping behavior. Building on budgeting and spending theories, the authors conduct three lab and grocery store experiments, which robustly...

Recent research shows that environmental cues such as lighting and music strongly bias the eating behavior of diners in laboratory situations. This study examines whether changing the atmosphere of a fast food restaurant would change how much patrons ate. The results indicated that softening the...

Increasing the actual variety of an assortment has been shown previously to increase the quantity consumed. We show, however, that consumption quantities are also influenced by the perceived variety of an assortment. In combination, six lab and field studies show that the structure of an...

We first choose what to eat and then we choose how much to eat. Yet as consumer psychologists, we understand food choice much better than food consumption quantity. This review focuses on three powerful drivers of food consumption quantity: 1) Sensory cues (how your senses react), 2) emotional...

Whereas everyone recognizes that increasing obesity rates worldwide are driven by a complex set of interrelated factors, the marketing actions of the food industry are often singled out as one of the main culprits. But how exactly is food marketing making us fat? To answer this question, we...

Food marketing is often singled out as the leading cause of the obesity epidemic. In this review, we examine the current food marketing, determine how exactly it may be influencing food intake, and how food marketers could meet their business objectives while helping people eat healthier. We pay...

In their commentary of our “Slim by Design” article, Herman and Polivy offer a simple and powerful model of food intake which focuses on the mediating role of hunger, taste, and appropriateness. In their commentary, Roberto, Pomeranz, and Fisher review both new and classic interventions...