Choice architecture meets motivation science: How stimulus availability interacts with internal factors in shaping the desire for food

摘要

Recent research on choice architecture has highlighted the role of external aspects such as stimulus proximity or availability on consumption. How such external factors interact with internal, intraindividual factors, however, is very poorly understood. Here we show how the wanting for palatable food emerges from the interplay of one key external factor, availability, and two key internal factors central to motivation science, need state and learning history. Across three experiments in the food domain, we find converging evidence for a main effect of stimulus availability which is qualified in theoretically predicted ways by a three-way interaction such that food desire peaks when the availability of tempting food stimuli is accompanied by high need states and a positive learning experience. A pooled analysis across the three studies supported this general conclusion. We conclude that nudging effects are strongest when external factors of choice architecture synergize with internal factors in critical ways.