Rewards Change Kids’ Eating Habits
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.
February 13th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Hi Mark,
I see Pavlov’s theory is alive and well. This article also supports the components of our KM II project (Foodtropolis) in which we found a change of behavior in tweens eating habits could occur if the tweens were presented with a challenge (like competing with classmates to create a school website on nutrition). The school website included contests and rewards for viewers who accurately answered questions about nutrition and health.
I’m currently serving as a board member at Namaste Charter School in Chicago which this week received a prestigious award recognizing its leadership as a “healthy school” as part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. Check the website, http://www.namastecharterschool.org.
Marian Casey
December 11th, 2014 at 9:57 am
parajumpers femme…
super lightweight homme ugo parajumpers veste rouge masterpiece homme gobi bomber blouson aviateur olive parajumpers canada goose trillium women parka beige toms womens classics umbrella stripe 2014 new stlye canada goose constable parka navy for man o…