The Psychology Behind Breakfast Routines and Food Habits

You hear on TV that a new yogurt is good for your stomach and overall health. Not only that, but it’s also a convenient to-go meal, super tasty, and relatively inexpensive. Next thing you know, it’s in your fridge, and you eat it for breakfast almost every day, with little variation.

This isn’t an uncommon trend within consumer behavior, but it presents two key questions: Why do we rarely change breakfast routines, and what kind of desires dictate the psychology of food choice when we pick a meal?

Romain Cadario of Erasmus University and Carey Morewedge of Boston University decided to investigate these questions to understand the psychology of variety-seeking in meals. They tested their theories on how hedonic and utilitarian goals affect our decisions in food choice, as well as the impact of exogenous factors. They presented results through 3 studies using the multi-method approach. Interestingly, the results were mainly consistent across different types of studies and within different gastronomic cultures.

The Methodology of the Studies on the Psychology of Variety-Seeking in Meals

Study 1. In this two-part study, using diary data from many French and American participants, the researchers compared weekdays and weekend meals over the 7 consecutive days, including three main meals – breakfast, lunch, and dinner and excluding snacks. First, they found that weekends were more affected by hedonic goals as people would make their meals more different than those on the weekdays. However, their measures focused on exact food combinations, and even the slight difference would be considered variety seeking. They also have computed that variety-seeking was significantly lower for breakfasts rather than other meals. While the time factor was also included in the test, the current study didn’t show a significant effect.

Study 2. The next study used the event reconstruction method, applied to 199 recruited people in the US. They were asked to recall their meals from 2 days ago - Monday and Sunday and rate each meal based on three questions presented in random order – goal type (hedonics vs utilitarian), enjoyment, and vividness of memory. Cadario and Morewedge suggested that for most people utilitarian influence is stronger at breakfast and declines as the day goes. The results have shown that indeed hedonic goals and a variety of foods are closely related, especially for breakfast. What is more, the simple effect of the weekend on variety-seeking was significant for breakfast, lessened for lunch, and became insignificant for dinner, which was unexpected for the researchers. In short, it means that people are more likely to eat different breakfasts on Saturdays and Sundays and would seek more variety in dinners and lunches during the week.

Study 3. The experiment in which the researcher manipulated hedonic and utilitarian goals was the basis of the final study. Using the help of 181 workers from Amazon Mechanical Turk, they assigned objectives to three groups; people were divided into control, hedonic goal intervention, practical goal intervention groups. Accordingly, people were asked to either eat breakfast, eat an enjoyable breakfast, or an efficient one. In addition, participants identified what they intended to eat and whether they had eaten the same dish already that week. They also recorded exogenous factors, such as place and presence of other people and anticipated pleasure.

As predicted and consistent with the other studies, hedonic goals did affect variety seeking in food more. Interestingly, the study found no significant difference between utilitarian and control groups’ results.

The Results and Implications of Utilitarianism versus Hedonism on Consumer Behavior

Cadario and Morewedge confirmed most of their theories regarding variety seeking in meals throughout the day. According to all studies performed, variety seeking in breakfast was significantly lower than in other meals of the day. In addition, they uncovered how some factors, including our nature and the culture we are surrounded by, affect our choices. Time constraints, presence of other people, lifestyle – all these things can change slightly or significantly how we plan our meals.

This study can help understand consumer behavior in food shopping and see how neuromarketing techniques of satisfying hedonic or utilitarian goals can benefit product placement.

Your Consumer Behavior Insights:

Variety-seeking for meals is higher on weekends than weekdays. Unlike lunches and dinners, breakfasts tend to be almost unchangeable
Variety seeking in daily meals depends on many factors, including psychological, cultural, social, and others; it is also affected by both hedonic or utilitarian goals.
When people seek pleasure in food rather than efficiency and health-related factors, hedonic meal goals affect variety seeking in food

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References

Cadario, R. & Morewedge, C.K. (2022). Why Do People Eat the Same Breakfast Every Day? Goals and Circadian Rhythms of Variety Seeking in Meals. Appetite, 168, 105716, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105716