Cognitive Biases and Behavioural Segmentation in Food Demand

研究将由三个部分组成。研究的第一部分将根据消费者的偏好和消费模式，使用经济需求模型对消费者进行细分，以促进更好地针对饮食干预。以前的粮食需求模型提供了整个人口对经济和人口情况变化的平均反应。我们的工作将扩展以前的模型，以认识到不同个体之间的食物偏好是不同的，因此，对不断变化的社会经济环境的平均反应的概念可能只能提供有限的洞察消费者对饮食干预的反应。我们的建模方法将使我们能够在人群中识别出食物选择和食物偏好相似的子群体。这部分研究将使用来自英国政府生活成本和食品调查的数据，该调查涵盖了近7000个英国家庭的全国代表性样本，按政府办公区域和其他社会经济变量进行分层。第二部分的研究将试图解释这些偏好和消费模式的基础上，影响因素的行为源自社会心理学和行为经济学。它将探讨在特定偏好和食品消费集群中的消费者对影响食品选择的“偏见”的范围（例如，风险容忍度，符合社会规范，折扣率，冲动性等）的易感性。这部分研究将采用基于问卷的方式对1000个英国家庭进行调查，以探索解释影响食物选择的偏见敏感性的社会和认知因素的范围。它将为设计与不同消费者群体相关的饮食干预措施提供见解。这项研究将有助于制定一套适合不同消费者偏好和行为模式的干预措施。该研究可用于开发诊断或筛查工具，以确定针对不同消费者群体的最适当干预措施。研究的第三部分将利用这些见解来开发实验操作，旨在根据一些关键子群体对行为偏见和相关食物偏好模式的易感性来改变他们的行为。这将有助于评估基于行为经济学见解的饮食干预的潜在功效。该项目将收集一个独特的数据集，将食品购买行为和影响食品选择的认知偏见和社会因素结合在一起，这将对未来食品选择行为的跨学科研究非常有价值。

The study will consist of three parts.The first part of the study will segment consumers based on their preferences and consumption patterns using economic models of demand to facilitate better targeting of dietary interventions. Previous models of food demand have provided the average response of the population as a whole to changes in economic and demographic circumstances. Our work will extend previous models to recognise that food preferences differ between different individuals and, therefore, the notion of an average response to changing socio-economic circumstances may provide only limited insights into consumer response to dietary interventions. Our modelling approach will enable us to identify sub-groups within the population within which food choices and food preferences are similar. This part of the study will use data from the UK Government's Living Costs and Food Survey which covers a nationally representative sample of nearly 7000 UK households, stratified by Government Office Region and other socio-economic variables. The second part of the study will attempt to explain these preferences and consumption patterns based on factors influencing behaviours derived from social psychology and behavioural economics. It will explore how susceptible consumers within particular preference and food consumption clusters are to the range of "biases" influencing food choice (e.g., tolerance of risk, conformity to social norms, discount rates, impulsivity etc). This part of the study will use a questionnaire-based survey of 1000 UK households to explore the range of social and cognitive factors that explain the susceptibility to biases influencing food choice. It will provide insights into the design of dietary interventions relevant for different consumer segments. The study will facilitate the development of a suite of interventions that are appropriate for different consumer preferences and behavioural patterns. The study can be used to develop diagnostic or screening tools to identify the most appropriate interventions for different segments of consumers. The third part of the study will use these insights to develop experimental manipulations aimed at changing the behaviour of some of the key sub-groups based on their susceptibility to behavioural biases and associated food preference patterns. This will help in assessing the potential efficacy of dietary interventions based on behavioural economics insights.The project will assemble a unique dataset which brings together food purchase behaviour and the cognitive biases and social factors influencing food choice which will be very valuable for future interdisciplinary research on food choice behaviour.