Eat, drink, and be moody: How symbols and values affect flavor and influence mood, according to the value-symbol congruity model (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

Allen, Gupta, and Monnier’s (2008) value–symbol congruity (VSC) model contends that personal human values influence the taste of consumed foods and beverages.This book summarizes the model and tests if brand image also affects mood after tasting.Participants completed Schwartz’s (1994) Value Survey and then taste-tested a food. Some participants were informed of the true identity of the food and others were misinformed. Participants reported their mood at the start of the experiment, after being (mis)informed about the food, and after tasting the food. Participants who endorsed the human values symbolized by the product the experimenter claimed they were tasting (i.e., those with value–symbol congruity, or VSC) reported better taste and enhanced moods after tasting. However, mood following (mis-)information and before tasting was not affected, indicating that mood did not bias taste perception, but rather was an outcome of biased taste perception caused by VSC. This is the first empirical evidence that eating a congruent food per se can lift one’s mood. This has implications for the assimilation effect and self-congruity theory, and could help explain overeating, poor diets, and obesity.