CeDEx Seminar - Nick Bardsley (University of Reading)

Abstract

We use behavioural games to identify peer-group food norms, preferences, and beliefs about others’ preferences, amongst adolescents at a UK comprehensive school. The method developed allows us to test for ‘pluralistic ignorance’, whereby individuals privately reject a norm but believe that others generally accept it. Pupils systematically under-rate the attractiveness of ‘healthy’, and over-rate that of ‘unhealthy’, foods. The bias is consistently in the direction of pupils’ norms. Pluralistic ignorance is evidenced in several cases. The findings suggest potential for changing behaviour by publicising the distribution of preferences.