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Beyond Affect and Cognition: Identification of the Informational Bases of Food Attitudes 1
Author(s) -
Aikman Shelley N.,
Crites Stephen L.,
Fabrigar Leandre R.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00011.x
Subject(s) - affect (linguistics) , psychology , cognition , identification (biology) , social psychology , confirmatory factor analysis , variety (cybernetics) , exploratory factor analysis , need for cognition , attitude , exploratory research , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , structural equation modeling , psychometrics , communication , statistics , botany , mathematics , neuroscience , sociology , anthropology , biology
Two studies were conducted to identify the informational bases of food attitudes. Study 1 was an exploratory study in which participants indicated the importance of food characteristics and emotional reactions for determining their attitudes toward a variety of foods. On the basis of a series of exploratory factor analyses, 5 informational bases of food attitudes were identified: positive affect, negative affect, specific sensory qualities, abstract cognitive qualities, and general sensory qualities. A second confirmatory study corroborated the appropriateness of this 5‐factor structure. Furthermore, the food‐specific attitude structure model was found to have better fit than a more traditional attitude structure model. The implications of these findings for attitude theory, understanding eating behavior, and changing food selection are discussed.