Miles Susan, Scaife Victoria
Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney Lane, Norwich NR4 7UA, UK.
Nutr Res Rev. 2003 Jun;16(1):3-19. doi: 10.1079/NRR200249.
Food consumption patterns are influenced by a number of factors, including social and cultural factors. It is difficult to effect dietary change, and one possible barrier to dietary change is optimistic bias. Research indicates that individuals tend to believe that they are less likely to experience negative events, and more likely to experience positive events than their peers; this phenomenon is known as optimistic bias. It has been argued that optimistic bias may have a negative impact both on self-protective behaviour and on efforts to promote risk-reducing behaviours. The present article reviews the literature investigating optimistic bias specifically in the food domain. The review indicated that many food and nutrition issues are associated with optimistic bias. This has important implications for health-promotion activities in the food domain. The paper also describes key aspects of the methodology used to investigate optimistic bias and details the conditions under which optimistic bias has been demonstrated. The importance of identifying the causes of optimistic bias is discussed, and empirical attempts designed to reduce optimistic bias by countering the causes are reviewed. Finally, directions for future research are suggested.
食物消费模式受到多种因素的影响，包括社会和文化因素。实现饮食改变很困难，而饮食改变的一个可能障碍是乐观偏差。研究表明，个体往往认为自己比同龄人更不容易经历负面事件，而更有可能经历正面事件；这种现象被称为乐观偏差。有人认为，乐观偏差可能对自我保护行为以及促进降低风险行为的努力都产生负面影响。本文综述了专门针对食物领域中乐观偏差的研究文献。该综述表明，许多食物和营养问题都与乐观偏差有关。这对食物领域的健康促进活动具有重要意义。本文还描述了用于研究乐观偏差的方法的关键方面，并详细说明了已证明存在乐观偏差的条件。讨论了确定乐观偏差原因的重要性，并综述了旨在通过消除原因来减少乐观偏差的实证尝试。最后，提出了未来研究的方向。
