Exploring the consumption context and the relation between food choices and emotions

Abstract

This work examines the impact that two different consumption contexts (healthy versus indulgent) have on the relationship between the anticipated emotions (positive versus negative) evoked from yoghurt extrinsic attributes (fat-related nutrition claims and sensory) and choice behaviour. The research was conducted in the Netherlands in 2019 on 209 regular yoghurt consumers. Participants were divided into two consumption contexts and a control group (no context) and were instructed to imagine purchasing yoghurt to consume it as a healthy snack, as a treat, or received no instructions. After choosing their preferred option from a discrete choice experiment, participants indicated how the choice made them feel from a list of positive and negative emotions (PrEmo2 tool). The preliminary results suggested that participants with consistent preferences who chose the same type of yoghurt in all choice task selected mostly positive rather than negative emotions for their choice. The evoked anticipated emotions affected yoghurt choices; however, the evoked emotions were mainly affected by the consumption context.