Rewards Change Kids’ Eating Habits
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Childhood obesity is alarming. Creating lasting changes in eating and activity habits is the way to resolve it. But how do you change a child’s behavior? The Research Digest reports an interesting new study that claims Bribing Kids to Eat Their Greens Really Does Work.
Bribes in this case include a sticker or positive comment (social reward). This was a large-scale study and defeats the worries that bribes can backfire.
“They conclude that rewards could be an effective way for parents to improve their children’s diet. ‘…rewarding children for tasting an initially disliked food produced sustained increases in acceptance, with no negative effects on liking,’ they said.”
Understanding how to use rewards to change eating habits is one dimension of designing an effective choice architecture.
