When in doubt, follow the crowd. Resolved ambiguity as underlying mechanism in social proof nudge

Abstract

With increased media attention for healthy lifestyles people are often ambivalent towards the food choices they have to make. For instance, some options may be more hedonic while alternative options would be more healthy, hence making these choices is not always easy. In this study we investigate how a gentle nudge could affect the experienced ambivalence and the difficulty of the choice. A well-known nudge is the ‘social proof’. The social influence literature states that, when people are uncertain about a choice, they are more easily persuaded to do what others do. We hypothesize that ambivalence will be reduced and participants will be more easily led to the healthy option when a social proof nudge is presented in a food choice dilemma. We used a 2 (dilemma vs. no dilemma) by 2 (social proof vs. no social proof) within-subjects design. Participants were asked to make several choices related to dinner options. Results showed that, for food choices where participants experienced a dilemma between tastiness and healthiness, a social proof nudge reduced their ambivalence. Consequently, participants were more likely to choose the healthy option when it was presented together with a social proof. This study contributes to the knowledge on nudge interventions designed to improve healthy choices. Future directions of this line of research will be discussed.