Evolutionary motives and food behavior modeling in romantic relationships

Rob Richerson, James A. Mead and Wenjing Li

Journal of Business Research, 2020, vol. 120, issue C, 509-519

Abstract: This research examines the influence of evolutionary motives on the modeling of food behavior. Across three studies, we demonstrate that the evolutionary motives of mate acquisition and mate retention influence relationship partners to model the food behaviors of their eating partners. We show that females, but not males, model the food behavior of an opposite sex eating partner under a mate acquisition evolutionary motive, while males, but not females, model the food behavior of an opposite sex eating partner under a mate retention evolutionary motive. Finally, we demonstrate that neither sex models food behavior under a parenting evolutionary motive. For marketers and policymakers, we offer recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of promotions targeted to couples or families.

Keywords: Evolutionary motives; Food modeling; Food choice; Gender differences; Mate acquisition; Mate retention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:120:y:2020:i:c:p:509-519

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.04.031

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