Investigating Diet through a Social Media Lens: An Explorative Study
Mentor 1
Raymond Fleming
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
5-4-2019 1:30 PM
End Date
5-4-2019 3:30 PM
Description
Past research has found connections between social media use and mental health (Barry, Sidoti, Briggs, Reiter, & Lindsey, 2017). Less is known about links between social media and physical health factors, such as diet. This survey focused on how social media may impact perceptions of food. We investigated whether pictures of food were perceived differently when posted on Instagram than when they were not. We also aimed to identify other factors, such as personality and gender, that may predict food perception. Finally, we explored internet use related to food. In the survey, participants completed psychological measures including the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI; Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003). After, participants viewed 25 food images from Instagram featuring healthy, unhealthy, or neutral foods. In one condition, we removed all evidence of Instagram, while the three other conditions included varying degrees of evidence that the photo was from Instagram. For each photo, participants rated how healthy they perceived the food to be and how likely they were to eat it. Following the photos were questions about participants’ internet use to access recipes. We used a 2x4 multivariate analysis of variance to test gender and condition differences in healthiness ratings of foods pictured. Results showed a significant main effect of gender, F(3, 167) = 2.60, p = .05; Wilks' Λ = .954. Follow-up univariate tests revealed that compared to women (M = 2.04, SE = .06), men (M = 2.45, SE = 0.15) rated unhealthy foods as being healthier, F(1, 169) = 6.46, p = .012. Bivariate Pearson’s correlations showed conscientiousness was positively correlated with participants’ likelihood of eating healthy foods r(180) = .173, p = .02. Finally, 95% of participants reported using the internet to find recipes. Our findings suggest that individual differences may impact food perceptions, and internet use related to food should be further studied.
Investigating Diet through a Social Media Lens: An Explorative Study
Union Wisconsin Room
Past research has found connections between social media use and mental health (Barry, Sidoti, Briggs, Reiter, & Lindsey, 2017). Less is known about links between social media and physical health factors, such as diet. This survey focused on how social media may impact perceptions of food. We investigated whether pictures of food were perceived differently when posted on Instagram than when they were not. We also aimed to identify other factors, such as personality and gender, that may predict food perception. Finally, we explored internet use related to food. In the survey, participants completed psychological measures including the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI; Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003). After, participants viewed 25 food images from Instagram featuring healthy, unhealthy, or neutral foods. In one condition, we removed all evidence of Instagram, while the three other conditions included varying degrees of evidence that the photo was from Instagram. For each photo, participants rated how healthy they perceived the food to be and how likely they were to eat it. Following the photos were questions about participants’ internet use to access recipes. We used a 2x4 multivariate analysis of variance to test gender and condition differences in healthiness ratings of foods pictured. Results showed a significant main effect of gender, F(3, 167) = 2.60, p = .05; Wilks' Λ = .954. Follow-up univariate tests revealed that compared to women (M = 2.04, SE = .06), men (M = 2.45, SE = 0.15) rated unhealthy foods as being healthier, F(1, 169) = 6.46, p = .012. Bivariate Pearson’s correlations showed conscientiousness was positively correlated with participants’ likelihood of eating healthy foods r(180) = .173, p = .02. Finally, 95% of participants reported using the internet to find recipes. Our findings suggest that individual differences may impact food perceptions, and internet use related to food should be further studied.
