Zhang Siyue, Su Lexin, Hu Yuanxin, Wu Hairu, Liang Fuqun, Zhang Wei, He Xianyou, Wu Chenjing
Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, China; School of Psychology, South China Normal University, 510631, Guangzhou, China; Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, 510631, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, 510631, Guangzhou, China.
Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences (South China Normal University), Ministry of Education, China; School of Psychology, South China Normal University, 510631, Guangzhou, China; Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, 510631, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, 510631, Guangzhou, China.
Appetite. 2024 Aug 1;199:107388. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107388. Epub 2024 Apr 30.
Curiosity is a powerful motivator of behaviour. Although there have been some studies pertaining to the application of curiosity in the realm of food, research examining the potential to influence consumer food waste behaviour through the induction of curiosity is lacking. This study conducted two onsite dining experiments to explore the role and mechanism of curiosity in reducing food waste in a real dining environment by utilising an information gap design in tableware to induce participants' curiosity. Experiment 1 investigated the differences in food waste between participants using bowls with an information gap design and those using bowls with no information gap (blank bowls). Experiment 2 further controlled for other variables that could potentially influence the outcomes between bowls with and without information gaps; the latter displayed complete text externally. The results of both experiments consistently demonstrated a significant reduction in participants' food waste when utilising utensils with an information gap design. Moreover, we conducted an exploratory analysis combining these two experiments to examine the mediating mechanisms involved. Furthermore, the exploratory analysis suggested the mediating mechanism of curiosity elicited by the information gap design, ultimately leading to a decrease in food waste. This study presents a potential avenue for a simple and innovative approach for mitigating food waste.
好奇心是行为的强大驱动力。尽管已经有一些关于好奇心在食品领域应用的研究，但缺乏通过激发好奇心来影响消费者食物浪费行为潜力的研究。本研究进行了两项现场用餐实验，通过在餐具上采用信息缺口设计来激发参与者的好奇心，探讨好奇心在真实用餐环境中减少食物浪费的作用和机制。实验1调查了使用带有信息缺口设计碗的参与者与使用无信息缺口碗（空白碗）的参与者之间食物浪费的差异。实验2进一步控制了其他可能影响有信息缺口和无信息缺口碗之间结果的变量；后者在外部展示完整文本。两个实验的结果一致表明，使用带有信息缺口设计的餐具时，参与者的食物浪费显著减少。此外，我们对这两个实验进行了探索性分析，以检验其中涉及的中介机制。此外，探索性分析表明信息缺口设计引发好奇心的中介机制，最终导致食物浪费减少。本研究提出了一种简单而创新的减少食物浪费方法的潜在途径。
