Incidental Similarity and Influence of Food Preferences and Judgment: Changing to Be Closer to Similar People

Research has shown that people like more those who have something in common with them and are more likely to comply with a request addressed by similar individuals. We hypothesized that such similarity could also influence people’s preferences. First, 8-9-year- old children were led to believe that they shared the same birthday with an instructor. Afterwards, the children were asked about their food preferences and solicited to taste vegetables they disliked. Two weeks later, a survey was administered and revealed that the children in the incidental similarity condition expressed a higher liking for the vegetable disliked and more vegetable consumption. These changes in their vegetable consumption were confirmed by their mother. We suggest that similarity led participants to change their own attitudes and values to bring them closer to a similar target. Article visualizations: