Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 39, Issue 3, December 2002, Pages 217-225
Appetite

Research Report
Effectiveness of trained peer models to encourage food acceptance in preschool children

https://doi.org/10.1006/appe.2002.0510Get rights and content

Abstract

The present study examined the effectiveness of trained peer models to encourage food acceptance in children during preschool meals, and one month later. It also considered whether trained peer models risk the over-justification effects proposed to reduce later food acceptance after reinforcement has been offered for eating a specific food. Three novel foods were presented to eight tables of 38 children during five preschool meals. After three baseline meals, 16 children were trained to serve as peer models of food acceptance for one of the foods in exchange for small toy reinforcements, with each food assigned to either no model, girl model, or boy model conditions during the next two meals. The remaining 22 children served as observers whose food bites were recorded during baseline and modeled meals. Girl models were more effective than boy models to increase food acceptance from baseline to modeled meals for children of either gender. One month later, child interviews measured delayed food acceptance using food preference ratings and number of bites consumed. For observers, delayed food acceptance did not differ according to the food's previous modeling condition, suggesting that effectiveness of trained peer models does not last beyond the modeled meals. Trained peer models gave the highest preference ratings to the specific food they had eaten in exchange for toy reinforcements one month before, and they ate as much of this food as other foods, offering no evidence for detrimental over-justification effects on food acceptance as a result of serving as peer models.

References (32)

  • G.H. Brody et al.

    Selective imitation of same-age, older and younger peer models

    Child Development

    (1981)
  • J. Cohen

    Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences

    (1988)
  • A.M. Dickenson

    The detrimental effects of extrinsic reinforcement on “intrinsic motivation.”

    Behavior Analyst

    (1989)
  • K. Duncker

    Experimental modification of children’s food preferences through social suggestion

    Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology

    (1938)
  • R. Eisenberger et al.

    Detrimental effects of reward

    American Psychologist

    (1996)
  • J.R. Harris

    Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development

    Psychological Review

    (1995)
  • Cited by (133)

    • Young Children's mealtimes and eating practices in early childhood education and care: A scoping review of 30 years of research from 1990 to 2020

      2023, Educational Research Review
      Citation Excerpt :

      Direct encouragement of peer modeling has also been studied. In a follow-up to Hendy and Raudenbush (2000), Hendy (2002) examined the effect of using children who were trained as role-models to eat new foods and using verbal enthusiasm, such as saying “these X are good!”. This was noted to be somewhat effective, in that girls who modeled this eating behavior were successful in encouraging others to try the food, though the effect did not persist over time.

    • Acquired tastes: on the learning of human food preferences

      2022, Flavor: From Food to Behaviors, Wellbeing and Health, Second Edition
    View all citing articles on Scopus

    The present research was supported in part by grants from the Penn State Capital College School of Behavioral Sciences and Education and the Penn State Schuylkill Advisory Board. For their assistance, appreciation is extended to Pamela Blakeley, Laurette Dalton, Mary Ann Devlin, Diane Evans, Dorothy Franks, Kelli Freeman, Helen Frehafer, Tesha Honse, Jamie Leitzel, Marie Karavage, Karen Koppenhaver, Anne Mercuri, Ethel Miller, Iisha Robinson, Jade Robinson, Eileen Smith, Thomas Smith, Ann Snyder, Jennifer Thomas, and Jean Yanosky.

    f2

    Address correspondence to: Helen M. Hendy, Psychology Program, Penn State University, Schuylkill Campus, 200 University Drive, Schuylkill Haven, PA 17972, USA. Tel.: +15703856069; Fax: +15703856135; E-mail: [email protected]

    View full text