Abstract

Laws which require the display of calorie information on menus are becoming more prominent throughout the United States and the world, but the efficacy of this information has not yet been studied on an individual level. An Eyetracker and two menus (which were identical save for the inclusion or exclusion of caloric information) were utilized to determine how much time college-aged women spent looking at calories. We also gathered their personal measure of weight dissatisfaction using a body image scale and participants’ self-reported weight dissatisfaction. Using random assignment, 22 participants were placed in the experimental group and 25 participants were placed in the control group. Analysis of the Eyetracker data showed that calories on the menu did have an effect on both the amount of time that participants spent looking at calories, and on the number of fixations they made on the calories. There were significant negative correlations between the participants' time spent viewing and their appetizer and entree choices on the experimental menu, indicating that participants select lower calorie menu items when they spend more time looking at calories. The data will be further explored in future analysis; the results also indicate that additional research into multiple different directions could be beneficial.

Thesis Completion

2019

Semester

Summer

Thesis Chair/Advisor

Sims, Valerie

Degree

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Release Date

2-1-2020

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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