Birmingham study finds watching others visibly dislike vegetables may make you dislike them too
The research comes from Aston University.
Last updated 11th Jan 2024
A study by Aston University has found seeing someone dislike vegetables could make you dislike them too.
Researchers investigated whether the facial expressions of a person eating something had an impact on the onlooker.
Disgusted expressions reduced the volunteers’ liking of the vegetable, showing the power of observing food dislike.
Dr Katie Edwards in the School of Psychology led the research: “We show that watching others eating a raw vegetable with a negative facial expression reduces adult women’s liking of that vegetable, but not their desire to eat it.
"This highlights the power of observing food dislike on adults’ eating behaviour.”
In the study, just over 200 women watched a video containing clips of different unfamiliar adults consuming raw broccoli.
While eating, the models displayed positive (smiling), neutral, or negative (disgust-like) facial expressions.
Researchers also said the findings about the influence of negative facial expressions could apply to children.
Dr Edwards added: “For example, if a child sees their parent showing disgust whilst eating vegetables, this could have negative consequences on children’s vegetable acceptance.”
Previous research has shown that positive facial expressions increase children’s vegetable consumption.
Researchers added more investigations are needed to see whether the findings from this study translate to adults’ actual intake of vegetables.