Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Fractioning Choice under Temptation: Can "Attribute Distortion" be the missing link in the Temptation-Choice tandem?

卡路里标签规定要求餐馆显眼地展示食品的卡路里含量，旨在为消费者提供他们明智选择所需的信息。然而，关于标签是否导致卡路里摄入量的减少，证据充其量也是喜忧参半。缺乏关于食品标签有效性的明确证据表明，与食品有关的决策比想象的要复杂得多，仅仅提供关于健康和非健康食品的信息可能被证明不足以促进健康饮食。在这篇博士论文Improval Grant中，这位合作者探讨了选择健康食物是困难的可能性，因为高卡路里食物会引发诱惑。反过来，诱惑会扭曲不同食物替代品属性的感知价值，从而倾向于不太健康的选择。该项目还探索了不同的解决方案，以解决食物决策中的诱惑问题，例如制定适当的承诺方法。该项目的成果将通过改进理论和将新的分析方法应用于消费者决策来丰富决策科学和消费者研究。更广泛的影响将是向政策制定者提供新的见解，让他们了解未来公共卫生相关法律的有效性，并通过增加我们对个人决策的理解来改善公共福利。本研究的基本前提是诱惑通过属性扭曲影响选择行为。本研究设计了五个实验研究，系统地分析了诱惑诱导的属性扭曲对选择的影响。第一项研究通过“诱惑-选择”模型的视角来考察食物选择，在该模型中，诱惑下的决定涉及属性扭曲现象。第二项研究在“诱惑-选择”模型的背景下，探讨了心理学中的研究结果对承诺的影响。实验三在双我模型预测的基础上，考察了诱惑与属性扭曲之间的关系。第四和第五项研究考察了不同类型的分心对人们面对诱惑时自我控制能力的影响。

Calorie labeling rules requiring restaurants to visibly display the calorie content of food products are intended to provide consumers with the information they need to choose wisely. However, evidence is at best mixed as to whether labeling has led to a decrease in calorie intake. The lack of clear evidence regarding the effectiveness of food labels suggests that that food-related decision-making is more complex than envisioned and that simply providing information about healthy and non-healthy food products may turn out not to be adequate to promote healthy eating. In this Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, the co-PI explores that possibility that healthy food choices are difficult because calorie dense foods induce temptation. Temptation, in turn, distorts the perceived values of attributes of different food alternatives in such a way as to favor less healthy options. The project also explores different solutions to the problem temptation poses in food decisions, such as developing appropriate commitment methods. The results of the project will enrich decision science and consumer research by improving theory and applying novel analysis methods to consumer decision making. The broader impacts will be provision of new insights to policy makers about possible ways of increasing the effectiveness of future public health related laws and improvement in public welfare through increasing our understanding of individual decision making. The fundamental premise of the research to be undertaken is that temptation affects choice behavior through attribute distortion. Five experimental studies are designed to systematically analyze the role of temptation induced attribute distortion on choice. The first study examines food choice through the lens of a "Temptation-Choice" model where decisions under temptation involve an attribute distortion phenomenon. The second study explores the impact that findings on commitment in psychology have in the context of the "Temptation-Choice" model. The third experiment explores the relationship between temptation and attribute distortion based on the predictions of the dual-self models. The fourth and fifth studies examine the influence different types of distraction have on peoples' ability to exercise self-control in the face of temptation.