Examining the Relationship between Food Values and Personality Traits in the US and Norway
Key Highlights :
Food choices are an important part of daily life, and the way we make them is often shaped by our personality traits. A new study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production has investigated the associations between food values and the Big Five personality traits in the United States and Norway. By comparing the two countries, the researchers were able to identify six segments based on personality traits and socioeconomic characteristics that were linked to the values predicting food choices.
The Big Five Inventory (BFI) is a measure of how an individual thinks, feels, and acts, and is composed of being open to experience, conscientious, extraverted, agreeable, and neurotic (OCEAN). Previous studies have found that being open and agreeable is related to making better dietary choices and food sustainability. In contrast, neuroticism and extraversion have been linked to poor food choices.
Overall attitudes to food have been found to be directly associated with food choices regarding safety, nutritional status, natural state, environmental impact, convenience, origin, fairness, traditional food values, taste and appearance, and price. These values are based on the ten fundamental human values described by Schwartz, which include benevolence, conformity, hedonism, security, power, and self-direction.
The researchers found that safety was the top value for both countries, with 74% of respondents citing it as a dominant value. The Health segment, which was comprised of respondents who valued safety, also wanted natural food with a mild environmental impact, in addition to valuing animal welfare and justice. The Rational segment chose foods based on taste and price, putting twice as much weight on these factors as compared to food safety. The Natural segment included respondents who valued food origin, as indicated by their intense dislike for genetically modified (G.M.) food, natural food, and safety. The Welfare segment was primarily focused on animal welfare data, and the Hedonistic segment preferred taste over safety at whatever price or inconvenience.
Females outnumbered males in the Safety, Health, Altruistic, and Rational segments. Those with a university education were three times as prominent in the Health segment and twice as common in the Altruistic or Rational segments. Similarly, those with a high income were twice as likely to be in the Health segment. With more openness to new experiences, Welfare or Altruistic membership odds rose by over 60% for every standard deviation (S.D.) rise. Extraversion was related inversely to Welfare or Altruism, with a 30% drop in membership odds with each S.D. rise.
The study concluded that safety remains a top priority in almost all segments, corroborating earlier research. Fairness was also an important value in Norway, while both countries reflected naturalness, environmental costs, and animal suffering as their top values. The results of the study suggest that understanding personality traits and their associated food values can help inform food choices and promote sustainable food production.
