Effects of a Model on Food Neophobia in Humans

In study 1, subjects who were high and low in trait food neophobia made a series of choices between novel or familiar foods in the presence of no model, a neophilic model who chose mostly novel foods, or a neophobic model who chose mostly familiar foods and made another series of choices in private from foods which were not modeled. Subjects who were low (but not high) in trait neophobia behaved in accordance with the behavior of the neophilic (but not neophobic) model in the model's presence (but not absence). Study 2 clarified the results of study 1, revealing that the phenomenon was modeling and not conformity, that even highly neophobic subjects can be influenced by a stronger modeling manipulation, that food neophobia can be both increased and decreased, and that the reduced neophobia induced by exposure to a neophilic model does not generalize to non-modeled foods.