Will our food consumption amount be affected by the server’s body shape?

7/27/2019 Will our food consumption amount be affected by the servers body shape?

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BBA Project

Will our food consumption amount be affected by the servers body shape?

BY

Kitty, Tsoi Wai Nga

08030014

Marketing Major

Mandy, Lam Sin Kwan

08035644

Marketing Major

An Honours Degree Project Submitted to the

School of Business in Partial Fulfillment

of the Graduation Requirement for the Degree of

Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours)

Hong Kong Baptist University

Hong Kong

April 2011


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Table of Contents

Abstract------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

I. Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

II. Problem Development and Research Objectives-------------------------------------6

III. Literature Review and Hypotheses---------------------------------------------------- 8

The Effect of Body Shape of Server on Customers Amount of Food Consumption-8

The Moderating Role of Servers Gender---------------------------------------------11

The Moderating Role of Customers Self Esteem----------------------------------- 12

Only female customers (students)------------------------------------------------------12

IV. Method-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

Participants--------------------------------------------------------------------------------14

Design and measure--------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

Results--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16

Manipulation check----------------------------------------------------------------------16

Reliability test----------------------------------------------------------------------------16

Moderating effect of gender-----------------------------------------------------------17

Moderating effect of self esteem------------------------------------------------------18

Discussion--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19

Gender effect-------------------------------------------------------------------------------19

Effects of Self esteem--------------------------------------------------------------------23

Overall Discussion----------------------------------------------------------------------24

V. Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25

VI. Limitation--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27

VII. Recommendations for future study------------------------------------------------- 29


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Appendix---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30

A: Manipulations------------------------------------------------------------------------------30

B: SPSS output--------------------------------------------------------------------------------32

C: Questionnaire sample---------------------------------------------------------------------36

Reference----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------42


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Abstract

This research studies how the amount of food consumption can be affected by the

body shape of others and the moderating effects of gender and self esteem. By

manipulating the body shape of the server by given pictures made in Photoshop, we

find out the body shape of the server can affect the amount of food consumption. The

comparison consequences depend on factors such as gender and self esteem. These

factors determine the mechanisms that may undertake during the comparison process.

Participants who encounter a server of the same-gender undergo assimilation,

whereas those who encounter a server of the different-gender undergo contrast effect.

Moreover, those with low self esteem experience assimilation, whereas those with

high self esteem experience contrast effect. The study has important implications for

marketers, sociologists or related parties to better control customers weights through

controlling peoples food consumption amount in restaurant dining.


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I. Introduction

According to the Department of Health, Hong Kong is within the top three Asian

countries with the highest number of overweight people. It was found that about

38.9% of the population was overweight or obese (Lee, 2005). The problem remains

serious as overweight problems are also found among youngsters. With the statistics

gathered by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 10% of youngsters were

overweight in 1993; the number has risen by 15% in 2008. The reason is that children

eat more but walk and exercise less nowadays (Mohit, 2008).

Overweight not only causes health problems but also increases the hospitalization

costs in Hong Kong. Obesity causes chronic illnesses like heart disease, cancer,

diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. In addition, as it raises the likelihood of the

illnesses mentioned, more people need medical treatments which lead to the increase

in the hospitalization costs in Hong Kong. It was estimated that the operating costs in

Hong Kong' public hospitals had been risen from HK$ 2.29 billion in 1998 to HK$

3.36 billion in 2002, which were about 8.29.8% of the annual total public

expenditures in Hong Kong (Ko, 2008).

To prevent the health problems and ease the hospitalization costs in Hong Kong, it is

important to find ways to control peoples weight. Hong Kong people nowadays are

mostly very busy. They usually dine outside, no matter during lunch hour or dinner

time. Thanks to the unhealthy and oily cooking style of restaurants in Hong Kong,

overweight problems become much more urgent. Therefore, from a socially

responsible perspective, it should be beneficial if we can control factors that affect the

amount of peoples food consumption in restaurant dining.


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II. Problem Development and Research Objectives

A recent journal (McFerran et al., 2010a) has proved that the body shapes of the

servers could affect the amount of food consumed by different customers (dieters and

non-dieters). The rationale behind is ones body shape can infer the food choices he or

she make, thus can be served as a relevant cue for the consumption amount of

customers. The research addresses people behaviors are affected by their personal

identification with the server. This leads to assimilation towards similar servers in the

way that dieters (non-dieters) would eat more (less) when the server is obese than

when the server is slim (Mussweiler et al., 2004).

However, inspired from various journals comparing assimilation and contrast effect

(e.g., Michael, 2004; Mussweiler et al., 2004; Mary & Robert, 2009), we propose that

contrast effect, rather than assimilation, determines peoples reaction to body shapes

of servers. To illustrate, when facing an overweight server, the customer will think

himself or herself thin, which drives him or her to eat more. Moreover, since gender

difference and self esteem are factors that could affect how one is compared with

others, they are likely to influence the strength of the relationship between servers

body shape and food consumption amount. Thus, we will examine these two factors

in this study as well.

Having analyzing above aspects, two objectives are expected to be reached in this

research. The first aim is to investigate if contrast effect will occur and affect

customers food consumption amount in restaurant dining when a server is presented.

The second aim is to find out whether gender difference and self esteem will have an

effect on the strength of the relationship respectively. We predict that servers body

shape is positively related to customers food consumption amount. The effect of


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servers body shape on food consumption amount will be stronger among

same-gender comparison and among consumers with low self esteem than that with

high self esteem. Knowing the research findings, marketers, sociologists or related

parties can better control customers weights through controlling peoples food

consumption amount in restaurants. This contributes to the society by easing the

obesity problems in Hong Kong or even other places in the world.


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III. Literature Review and Hypotheses

Fig.1 The model developed

The Effect of Body Shape of Server on Customers Amount of Food Consumption

Although it seems that we control what we order and what we eat in restaurant, we

are aware of only part of the decisions and are unaware of the effects of the

environment on these decisions (Wansink, 2006).

In theory, the model of automatic processes suggests that in general, the presence of

an environmental feature can activate an automatic process and then to an outcome

(Chartrand, 2005). Refers to the restaurant dining context, existence of other people

can lead to automatic self evaluation of customer, which in turn influences customers

choice. In other words, the food we choose (i.e. food consumption amount) can be

influenced by other people around us. One of the relevant cues may be other peoples


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body shape. A research examines how costumers body shape affects another

costumer (McFerran et al., 2010a). The results showed the quantity of food one

chooses was affected by others, but whether the customers being affected to consume

more or less depends on the body shape of the other consumer. Therefore, others

body shape can serve as an inference about what food choice ones will make

(McFerran et al., 2010a).

A recent study of McFerran, Dahl, Fitzsimons and Morales (2010b) indicates the

amount we eat and what we choose to eat can be affected by the body shape of those

serving us. In the research, two experiments were done. Experiment 1 discovers a fat

(vs. thin) server influenced dieters to increase the amount of food consumed. The

opposite result was found for non-dieters. Experiment 2 indicates influential effect of

servers body shape on their recommendations of food choice. Dieters were

discovered to be more influenced by fat server while opposite result was found for

non-dieters (McFerran et al., 2010b). The research proposes ones perceptions and

choices are determined by identification, a psychological process which ones

assimilates an aspect or attributes of a similar others (Laplanche & Pontalis, 1973), or

the perceived similarity with the servers, resulting in assimilation (i.e. integrating

newly obtained information into an existing schema of ideas) towards similar ones

(Mussweiler et al., 2004). To illustrate, dieters who perceive they are fat, are more

identified with obese servers. Therefore, they are more persuaded by obese servers

which in turn will eat more and will be more likely to take in the servers

recommendations.

While the research suggests assimilation results occur due to identification, we

believe that sometimes contrast effect is also likely to be resulted. In this case,


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contrast effect means the enhanced or diminished judgments we would make, relative

to the normal, when there is a stimulus that we could compare with. To make it

simple, it means we tend to evaluate one, including ourselves against another and

make judgments based on the comparison.

Social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954) provides a rationale for how others may

affect what we think about ourselves. According to this theory, a relative nature in the

evaluation of oneself meaning people tend to compare themselves to others to have an

accurate picture of them. Virtually everyone engages in social comparison from time

to time (Gibbons and Bunnk, 1999), comparison occurs without conscious control,

when seeing models in advertising campaigns (Gilbert et al., 1995). Even when an

irrelevant standard who has not been deliberately selected and explicitly provided or

have briefly exposed can be enough for triggering comparison (Festinger 1954;

Mussweiler et al., 2004). We infer that people with or without dieting will also

engage in social comparison unconsciously when seeing servers with different body

shapes.

Contrast effect is more likely to be resulted when features of the standard are

unreachable (Micheal, 2004); when the degree of overlap between the contextual cues

and target is low (Mary & Robert, 2009); and when self evaluation is based upon an

extreme standard (Mussweiler et al., 2004). By seeing an underweight server, it is

possible for customers to perceive themselves fat and thus order less food because of

body dissatisfaction. On the other hand, seeing an overweight server, more food will

be ordered as customers think themselves thin which enhanced their body satisfaction.

To illustrate, customers eat more when an overweight server is presented due to body

satisfaction; while they eat less when an underweight server is shown due to body


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dissatisfaction. Therefore, we hypothesize that:

H1: Body shape of server is positively related to food consumption amount of

customer.

The Moderating Role of Servers Gender

Based on the social comparison theory (Festinger 1954; Goodman 2005; Bessenoff

2006), humans compare their opinions and abilities to others who are similar. Because

the more similar others are to them, the more likely they use the information gained

through social comparison in better understanding themselves as well as their future

plans of action (Stephen, et al., 2007). So, it is consistent to the statement that

comparisons with similar others may have more influence on affect and esteem than

that with dissimilar others (Lin & Kulik, 2002). In our case, since behaviors of

individuals of the same-gender are more similar than those of the different-gender, we

expect that comparison with a same-gender server would have a greater impact on

individuals esteem than a different-gender server (Nathalie et al., 2008). To illustrate,

when facing an overweight server, female customers eat more with the presence of

either a male or female server. However, the extent of the increased food

consumption is larger in the presence of female server than the male server. Hence,

with the moderating effect of gender, we hypothesize that:

H2: The effect of body shape of server on food consumption amount will be stronger

among same-gender comparison.


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The Moderating Role of Customers Self Esteem

In our research, it is predicted that people with different levels of self esteem respond

differently in terms of their food consumption amount in the same situation (i.e.

presence of a server of a particular body shape). One research shows high self esteem

individuals prompt egocentric contrast effect (Dunning & Beauregard, 1998).

Egocentric contrast effects occur when our judgments of others are skewed by our

own characteristics, expectations and judge others in a self-serving ways. However,

for low esteem individuals, they are less likely to judge others in a self-serving ways

compared with high esteem individuals (Brown, 1986; Campbell, 1986). Therefore,

we predict that, the higher the self esteem of one person, the more likely one will

judge oneself in a self-serving way and the less likely ones food consumption

amount will be affected by the server and their own body shapes. To illustrate, when

facing an overweight server, customers eat more with the presence of either a male or

female server. However, the extent of the increased food consumption is larger if the

customer has low self-esteem than high self-esteem. Thus, after adding the second

moderator of self esteem, our last hypothesis is:

H3: The effect of body shape of server on food consumption amount will be stronger

among customers with low self esteem than among customers with high self

esteem.

Only female customers (students)

In general, people place a premium on womens physical attractiveness (Davis, 1990;

Franzoi & Chang, 2000). Women were taught when they were a child that body is an

indicator of beauty that it is also an important value-judging factor (James, 2000).


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This explains why college women compared themselves to professional models more

frequently than college men when evaluating body aspects associated with weight

concern and sexual attractiveness (Stephen L et al., 2007). And so there is always a

stronger connection between social comparison and body image, especially for

appearance-related attributes, among women than men (Heinberg & Thompson,

1992). Therefore, in order to generate a greater effect of the result, our respondents

will be based on female students only.


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IV. Method

Participants

180 female students participated in this research; they were recruited at Hong Kong

Baptist Universitys campus and were invited to spend about three minutes to

complete one questionnaire with sixteen questions (Appendix B). We randomly

assigned the participants to four scenarios evenly such that each scenario had 30

observations.

Design and Procedures

The experiment had a 2 2 between-subjects design, where the two manipulated

factors were servers gender (male/female) and their body shape

(underweight/overweight). This design resulted in four scenarios, which are presented

in Fig.2. Across the four conditions, participants read a scenario in which they were

asked to imagine that they dined in a restaurant for lunch one weekday afternoon.

After finding a seat, they were told that a server, as shown in a picture at the end of

the scenario, came and served them with a menu and two glasses of water. Standing

nearby, the server was ready to serve them. The scenarios are the same across the four

conditions except for the picture of the server shown, which the servers shown are

different by their body shapes and genders. Participants in the gender-male condition

were told that a male server came to serve them, while participants in the

gender-female condition were told that a female server came to serve them. To

manipulate servers body shape, Photoshop was used to generate servers with

different body shapes (Fig. 3). The fat server was made fatter by making the whole

body as well as face wider and rounder while maintaining the height so that they

differ only in the body shape. On the other hand, the thin server was made thinner by

making the whole body and face narrower in dimension.


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After reading the scenario, the participants were asked to indicate the gender of the

given server to check the manipulated variable of servers gender. Besides, body

shape was measured with two seven-point scales, with questions of What do you

think about the body shape of the server? and What do you think about the weight

of the server?

Next, participants were asked to indicate the amount of food they were more likely to

consume after reading the scenario. To measure the amount of food consumption,

pictures with main dish, drink and dessert in different serving sizes were shown to

require participants to choose from three seven-point scales (Smallest amount to

Largest amount) respectively. At the end of the questionnaire, self esteem was

measured by a 10-item seven-point scale (Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree)

(Rosenberg, 1965).


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Results

Manipulation check:

Table1: Data extracted from Test of Between-Subjects Effect table

(Manipulation check)

F ratio Significance

Body shape 143.091 0.000

Servers gender 0.707 0.331

Body shape

Servers gender

0.077 0.748

To assess the body shape of the servers, two questions of What do you think about

the body shape of the server? (from very thin to very fat) and What do you think

about the weight of the server? (from extremely underweight to extremely

overweight) were asked and measured in seven-point scales (from 1 to 7). A 2 (body

shape) 2 (gender) ANOVA on the average score of these two items revealed a main

effect of body shape, such that the server in the body shape-fat condition (M= 5.11)

was perceived to be heavier than the server in the body shape-thin condition

(M= 3.57,F=143.1,p < .05). Importantly, no other effects were significant. This

indicates the effectiveness of our body shape manipulation.

Reliability test:

Table2: Reliability Test result of all variables

Servers body

shape

Food consumption Self esteem

Cronbachs

Alpha

0.813 0.624 0.835

No of items 2 3 10


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The Cronbachs alpha of the body shape measurement was 0.813 and that of self

esteem measurement was 0.835. In both case, the measurements showed high internal

consistency reliability. When food consumption amount was measured using main

dish, drink and dessert, the Cronbachs alpha was 0.584. After the measurement of

food consumption amount in terms of dessert was ignored, the alpha value increased

to 0.624. Although a value of 0.7 or higher represents a high internal consistency

reliability (Nunnally, 1978), more than 0.6 but less than 0.7 was sometimes

considered acceptable by some researches, especially for the exploratory studies (G.

David, 1998). As a result, we used only the main dish and drink consumption amount

to compute the average food consumption.

Moderating effect of gender:


(Body shape x Servers gender)


Body shape 0.003 0.954

Servers gender 0.044 0.833

Body shape

servers gender

4.606 0.033

A 2 (servers body shape) 2 (gender) ANOVA on food consumption amount

revealed that the interaction effect between servers body shape and gender is

significant (F= 4.61,p < .05). The pattern showed that, when presented with

same-gender server, participants ate less when the server was fat (M= 4.10) versus

thin (M= 4.39). However, when presented with different-gender server, participants

ate more when the server was fat (M=4.41) versus thin (M= 4.13). While

participants presented with the different-gender server showed effects consistent with


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our first hypothesis (H1), participants presented with the same-gender server showed

an opposite result.

Moderating effect of self esteem:


(Body shape Self esteem)


Body shape 0.002 0.957

Self esteem 0.035 0.834

Body shape x Self

esteem

3.345 0.041

A 2 (servers body shape) 2 (self esteem) ANOVA on food consumption amount

revealed that the interaction effect between servers body shape and participants self

esteem is also significant (F= 4.26,p < .05). The pattern showed that, low self

esteem participants ate less when the server was fat (M= 4.12) versus thin (M= 4.39).

However, high self esteem participants ate more when the server was fat (M=4.41)

versus thin (M= 4.14). While high self esteem participants showed effects consistent

with our first hypothesis (H1), low self esteem participants showed an opposite result.

In both cases, although the moderating effects are significant, the patterns of the

moderating effect of servers gender and participants self esteem are different from

what we have proposed in hypothesis 2 (H2) and hypothesis 3 (H3) respectively. That

is to say, assimilation occurs when participants are in the same-gender with the server

or have a high self esteem. Whereas contrast effect occurs when participants are in

the different-gender with the server or have a low self esteem.


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Discussion

Effect of Gender

In the experiment, we demonstrated the amount of food consumption can be affected

by the body shape of the server. We expected contrast effect would occur when

participants undergo social comparison with the server presented. However, the result

showed that both contrast effect and assimilation may occur depending on the gender

of the server. When the participant and the server had a different-gender, our results

were consistent with the contrast effect explanation. When the participant and the

server had the same-gender, assimilation rather than contrast effect occurred. This

finding showed an important implication the social comparison process undergoes

different mechanism depending on the situation presented. It is the comparison stage

that determines the result of the self-evaluation (Mussweiler & Wurzburg, 2003).

This can be supported by several past researches which study when contrast effect

and assimilation will occur. In fact, even factors that seem trivial affect whether one

assimilates towards or contrasts away from the comparison standard. For example, it

was shown that whether self-evaluation of attractiveness are assimilated towards or

contrasted away from a comparison standard can depend on whether one believes that

they have the same birthday (J. D. Brown et al., 1992).

One research shows that during social comparison process, when the self is judged as

consistent with the comparison standard, the judgment of self tends to identify with

the comparison standard. On the other hand, when the self is judged as inconsistent or

opposite with the comparison standard, the judgment of self tends to move away from

the comparison standard (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997; Mussweiler, 2001). Another

research claims that how one reacts towards the comparison standard depends on the


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perceived similarity with the comparison standard assimilation occurs when the

comparison standard is perceived as similar to the self, but contrast effect occurs

when the comparison standard is perceived as dissimilar to the self (Mussweiler,

Rter & Epstude, 2003).

Some researches present whether one perceives the comparison standard as similar or

dissimilar to oneself depending on the most obvious information that is accessible or

the knowledge that is activated at the time of the comparison. That means one will

first briefly consider a small number of features such as category membership, to

determine whether both are similar or dissimilar (Smith, Shoben & Rips, 1974). This

knowledge or information leads one to focus on similarities or differences, which

critically determines whether assimilation or contrast effect will occur. After

accessing the perceived similarity with the standard, the hidden mechanisms that

either leads to contrast effect or assimilation is similarity testing and dissimilarity

testing. Similarity testing means selectively render accessible information indicating

that one is similar to the standard. Dissimilarity testing means selectively render

accessible information indicating that one is dissimilar to the standard. Therefore, the

effects of the comparison mechanisms of similarity testing and dissimilarity testing

are in opposite directions. If ones evaluation is based on standard-consistent

knowledge, the evaluation will move close to the comparison standard. On the other

hand, if ones evaluation is based on standard-inconsistent knowledge, the evaluation

will move away from the comparison standard. As a result, when the informational

focus is based on similarities, assimilation occurs; whereas contrast effect occurs

when the informational focus is based on dissimilarities. This is regarded as the

selective accessibility model (Mussweiler, Ruter & Epstude, 2003). It has also been

shown that the behavioral consequences can be shaped by whether one focus on


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similarity or dissimilarity during the comparison process. One who focuses on

similarities assimilates their behaviors toward the standards, whereas one who

focuses on dissimilarity contrasts their behaviors away from the standards (Haddock,

Macrae & Fleck, 2002).

The accessible knowledge or information can be the psychological closeness between

the self and the standard. One may assimilate toward a comparison standard that is

psychologically close to them and contrast away from a standard that is

psychologically more distant. For example, a shared birthday with the comparison

standard can lead to assimilation (Brown et al., 1992). Moreover, from the inclusion

exclusion model (Schwarz & Bless, 1992), assimilation occurs when the standard was

included the self in the representation; whereas contrast effect occurs if standard

information was excluded from the self. A series of researches also state that whether

one belongs to the same category or in-group as the comparison standard determines

whether similarity testing or dissimilarity testing is more likely to occur. For example,

one research (Mussweiler & Bodenhausen, 2002) involves male participants in a

spontaneous comparison with a standard who was described as tidy and clean. The

standard either belonged to the same or the different-gender category as the

participants. It was found that similarity testing, which resulted in assimilation, was

more likely to occur after comparing with standard that was in the same-gender

category than those in the different-gender category. This suggests that

self-evaluations are assimilated toward in-group standards and contrasted away from

out-group standards. This is further supported by a study that shows male participants

assimilate self-evaluation of how caring and understanding they are to a highly caring

male and contrast them away from a highly caring female.


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In our experiment, the result can also be explained by the Selective accessibility

model. When a female participant was presented with a server, the most accessible

knowledge would be the gender of the server. If the server is a female, then the

female participant will quickly regard her as being in the same-gender category. In

this case, the participant will undergo similarity testing. She will render accessible

information indicating that one is similar to the standard and assimilation will occur.

To illustrate, when the server is fat, the participant will evaluate herself as fat, body

dissatisfaction then resulted and thus she will eat less; if the server is thin, the

participant will evaluate herself as thin and will be more comfortable to eat more. On

the other hand, if the server is a male, then the female participant will quickly regard

her as being in the different-gender category. In this case, the participant will engage

in dissimilarity testing. She will render accessible information indicating that one is

dissimilar to the standard and contrast effect will occur. When the server is fat, the

participant will evaluate herself as thin, body satisfaction resulted and she will eat

more; if the server is thin, the participant will evaluate herself as fat and eat less.

Another possible explanation for female participants eating less when seeing a fat

female server is that the server could be a reminder to reduce food consumption

amount to avoid becoming as fat as the server. Researches show standard associated

with a behavior can shape consumer choice (Escalas & Bettman, 2005). People

imitate the behaviors of aspiration standards (Englis & Solomon, 1995) but diverge

behaviors linked with dissociative standards. Fat female server may be dissociative

standards of female participants as they would not want to look like them. In one

research, participants were asked to read an article that associated junk food

consumption with people whom these participants do not want to be identified with.

Then, they were asked to make food choices. It was shown that this led participants to


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make healthier choices (Berger & Rand, 2008). Refer to our case, as fat server is

associated with eating a lot of food and regarded as someone the female participants

do not want to identify with, the participants will then eat less in that situation.

Effect of Self Esteem

Based on our literature reviews, when self esteem serves as a moderator, we predicted

that people with high and low self esteem would both exhibit contrast effects, which

is what many studies of psychophysics demonstrate. However, the outcomes we

found from our data were even more interesting: although people with high and low

self esteem were both sensitive to social comparisons, opposite direction of effects

were shown, in which assimilation occurred in the case of low self esteem while

contrast effect appeared when people with high self esteem. So, the key is to know the

relationship between self esteem and social comparison processes; or in order words,

how self esteem affects the occurrence of assimilation and contrast effect.

We examine a feasible explanation of why low esteem people tend to have

assimilation to others. Brown, Collins and Schmidt (1988) propose that low self

esteem people rely more on indirect forms of self enhancement and confirmed they

are especially apt to benefit from their association with others. Contrary to high self

esteem people, low esteem group tend to seek similarity with others, such connection

with others imply a tendency to assimilation, which is typically resulted in this group.

On the other hand, people with high self esteem perceive themselves better than

others to achieve self enhancement. As found in previously mentioned study by

Jonathon et al (1992), high self esteem people are more motivated to the need of


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maintaining superiority over others than the desire to connect themselves with others.

Such difference or dissimilarity from others implies a tendency to contrast with others

the dissimilarity.

Applying the above concepts in our study, when facing an overweight server, female

customers with low self esteem think they have similar overweight body shape (i.e.

assimilation), body dissatisfaction resulted and therefore they will eat less. While

facing the same overweight server, people with high self esteem contrary think

themselves thin (i.e. contrast effect), body satisfaction resulted and thus they will eat

more.

Overall Discussion

To summarize, contrast effect occurs under boundary conditions, i.e. at the situations

of different-gender and high self esteem. In other words, the occurrence of which type

of social comparison process-contrast effect or assimilation depends on situations

(conditions). At present stage, we infer one of the conditions is the existence of

similarity perceived by customers between themselves and the server (standard). As

such, when similarity occurs, assimilation will result; if dissimilarity occurs, contrast

effect will present.


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V. Conclusion

To solve the overweight problems in Hong Kong, we begin with restaurant dining to

explore whether the body shape of server may affect the amount of food customers

consume.

Our research is mainly based on a previous research (McFerran et al., 2010b) which

indicates the amount we eat and what we choose to eat can be affected by the body

shape of those serving us. It proposes that ones perceptions and choices are

determined by assimilation. What is new in our study, we would like to discover

whether contrast effect may present as other studies have shown that contrast effect

may occur in some situations (Mary & Robert, 2009; Mussweiler et al., 2004). We

also believed that factors such as gender and self-esteem may affect the strength of

the contrast effect.

The result turned out that both assimilation and contrast effect may occur depending

on the situations presented. With the presence of the gender factor, the result can be

explained by the selective accessibility model (Mussweiler & Wurzburg, 2003). It

has shown that factors resulted in different comparison process consequences can be

related to the mechanisms of similarity and dissimilarity testing. When comparing

with those who are regarded as similar, assimilation occurs. On the other hand, when

comparing with those who are regarded as dissimilar, contrast effect occurs.

Regarding the effects of self esteem, we deduce the probable explanation may be that

low esteem group tends to seek similarity with others and thus assimilation occurs.

On the other side, high self esteem people are more motivated to maintain superiority

over others, contrast effect therefore occurs.


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On the whole, we infer that similarity with comparison standard leads to assimilation,

whereas dissimilarity with comparison standard leads to contrast effect. Hence, while

prior studies have demonstrated that servers body shape affect customers food

consumption amount based on identification and assimilation mechanism, this

research provides additional insight to existing studies that whether assimilation

occurs or not depends on the conditions presented.

Moreover, the research shows the body type of others may be sufficient to affect our

food consumption amount. There are important practical implications for marketers,

sociologists or related parties in which these parties could better control customers

weights through controlling peoples food consumption amount in restaurant dining.

To illustrate, restaurant marketers could decrease the amount of food consumption of

customers by assigning a fat server to serve customers with the same-gender or

assigning a thin server to serve customers with different-gender.

Last but not least, this study could also be used for making customers to aware of

how unrealized others can largely impact on customers own food consumption

amount than the people they realize. Being aware of how these situational influences

might impact our food consumption amount is important for us to make healthier

lifestyle decisions.


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VI. Limitation

Before giving any further considerations to our findings, several limitations should be

noticed. Firstly, we admit that one of the manipulated factors servers body shape

was controlled poorly, although manipulation check was passed. Due to restrictions in

resources, Photoshop was used to generate overweight and underweight body shapes

of servers. However, looking at a 2D picture, every person has his or her own

subjective definitions on fatness and thinness, it is better to use more scientific

method such as adding element of Body Mass Index (BMI) in our scenario setting.

The second concern is our sample of female University students. With reference to

the research done by Sears (1986), college students tend less to possess a firm sense

of self, compared to older adults. Furthermore, evidence given by Social comparison

theory (Rosenberg, 1979) that women are especially apt to be more influenced by

social comparison information, only female students were invited as our sample

targets. However, the use of only female participants limits the generalizability of our

findings in gender moderating effect. Hence, these factors suggest that it is desirable

to use older subjects of both genders in the replication of our present study.

The third limitation of the present research concerns the research design. Outcomes

may have been more persuasive when the laboratory experiment was implemented

using manual setting. Food consumption amount is set as our only dependent variable

but because of its abstract nature, it is difficult to measure it in terms of main dish,

drink and desserts size by the 7 point-scales; this is the reason why there is 0.624

unsatisfactory internal consistency reliability in our dependent variable. If a taste

testing can be implemented in which actual menu is given by a confederate server for

participants to order, food consumption amount may be measured more reliably.


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Lastly, in order to implement a true experiment, apart from the manipulation of the

independent variables and randomization, we may have to set a scenario without any

servers as a control group. As both experiments and control groups are influenced by

extraneous factors such as history and statistical regression, etc, the difference found

between the groups should be caused only by the experimental treatment. Such

difference may contribute to the correlation between the cause and effect variables

and is what we mostly desire to discover.


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VII. Recommendations for future study

According to the Selective Accessibility Model (SAM) of comparative thinking

(Mussweiler 2003), the first step of any social comparison is: people make a quick

initial assessment of the similarity between the self and the standard. Therefore, we

suggest to add questions such as How similar you are to the server? in the

beginning of the questionnaire to identify the similarity element. As such, further

analysis can be carried out to see whether low self esteem people tend to seek

similarity from others which in turn engaging in assimilation, as we mentioned in the

discussion part.

Moreover, apart from gender and self esteem, we would like to investigate the

influence of other potential moderators on the effect of servers body shape on

customers food consumption amount. For example, the desire for eating of

customers, their mood during dining in restaurants as well as the frequency of dining

at that particular restaurant, etc. Above all, to further achieve our objective of easing

obesity problem, other controllable factors beside servers body shape that affect the

amount of peoples food consumption in restaurant dining should be examined. One

possible independent variable may be the physical environment of the dining

restaurant.

Last but not least, for further academic research, a 2 (self esteem) 2 (gender) 2

(servers body shape) ANOVA on peoples food consumption amount can be

generated and analyzed. Because significant interactions were found in both cases of

two moderators gender and self esteem, we propose that self esteem may further

affect the influence of gender effect on the relationship between servers body shape

and customers food consumption amount.


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Appendix A: Manipulations

Male server Female server

Thin

server

Thin + Male server

Scenario A

Thin + Female server

Scenario C

Fat

server

Fat + Male server

Scenario B

Fat + Female server

Scenario D

Fig.2 Combination of the manipulated factors in four scenarios


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Scenario A : Thin + Male server Scenario C: Thin + Female server

Scenario B: Fat + Male server Scenario D: Fat + Female server

Fig.3 The manipulated servers


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Appendix B: SPSS output

Reliability Test

Servers body shape

Reliability Statistics

.813 2

Cronbach'sAlpha N of Items

Food consumption


.584 3


Item-Total Statistics

8.28 4.092 .464 .413

8.35 3.827 .423 .443

8.51 3.167 .334 .624

Main dish consumption

Drink consumption

Dessert consumption

Scale Mean ifItem Deleted

Scale Varianceif Item Deleted

CorrectedItem-TotalCorrelation

Cronbach'sAlpha if

Item Deleted

Self esteem


.835 10



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Manipulation check

Tests of Between-Subjects EffectsDependent Variable: Average Body shape

107.352a 3 35.784 48.118 .000

3391.445 1 3391.445 4560.422 .000

106.413 1 106.413 143.091 .000

.707 1 .707 .950 .331

.077 1 .077 .103 .748

130.886 176 .744

3631.250 180

238.238 179

SourceCorrected Model

Intercept

Body

SerSex

Body * SerSex

Error

Total

Corrected Total

Type III Sumof Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

R Squared = .451 (Adjusted R Squared = .441)a.


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Interaction effect between body shape and gender

Descriptive StatisticsDependent Variable: AvgCon

4.0978 .77186 46

4.4091 1.01313 44

4.2500 .90644 90

4.3889 .95280 45

4.1333 .78625 45

4.2611 .87803 90

4.2418 .87357 91

4.2697 .91097 89

4.2556 .88987 180

Server's genderFemale

Male

Total

Female

Male

Total

Female

Male

Total

Body shapeFat

Thin

Total

Mean Std. Deviation N

Tests of Between-Subjects EffectsDependent Variable: AvgCon

3.654a 3 1.218 1.552 .203

3261.600 1 3261.600 4156.992 .000

.003 1 .003 .003 .954

.035 1 .035 .044 .833

3.614 1 3.614 4.606 .033

138.091 176 .785

3401.500 180

141.744 179


Intercept

Body

SerSex

Body * SerSex

Error

Total

Corrected Total




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Interaction effect between body shape and self-esteem

Descriptive StatisticsDependent Variable: AvgCon

4.1064 .75135 47

4.4070 1.03657 43

4.2500 .90644 90

4.3864 .92046 44

4.1413 .82773 46

4.2611 .87803 90

4.2418 .84447 91

4.2697 .93862 89

4.2556 .88987 180

Percentile Group of AvgEstLow Self-esteem

High Self-esteem

Total

Low Self-esteem

High Self-esteem

Total

Low Self-esteem

High Self-esteem

Total

Body shapeFat

Thin

Total

Mean Std. Deviation N

Tests of Between-Subjects EffectsDependent Variable: AvgCon

3.385a 3 1.128 1.435 .234

3262.927 1 3262.927 4150.607 .000

.002 1 .002 .003 .957

.035 1 .035 .044 .834

3.345 1 3.345 4.256 .041

138.359 176 .786

3401.500 180

141.744 179


Intercept

Body

NAvgEst

Body * NAvgEst

Error

Total

Corrected Total




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Appendix C: Questionnaire sample - Scenario A (Thin male server)

Hong Kong Baptist University

BBA Marketing

Honors Project Questionnaire

We are BBA marketing final year students conducting a study on restaurant dining.

We would like to cordially invite you to participate in the study. Please spend about

three minutes time to complete this questionnaire. There is no right or wrong answers.

All information obtained will be kept strictly confidential and will be used for

academic purpose only. Thank you very much for your participation!

Part A

Imagine you are in the following situation

One weekday afternoon, you and your friend decide to go out and have lunch. After

walking for about 15 minutes, you two pick a restaurant and go in. You find a seat

near the entrance and sit down. A server, as shown in the picture below, comes and

serves you with a menu and two glasses of water. He stands nearby and is ready to

serve you


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Part B

Base on the situation described earlier, please answer following questions.

1. The server is a (please )

Female.

Male.

2. The server is

Very ugly Normal Very good looking

1 2 753 4 6


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3. What do you think about the body shape of the server?

Very thin Normal Very fat

4. What do you think about the weight of the server?

Extremely Normal Extremely

underweight overweight

5. What size of the uniform do you think the server wears?

Size XS (very small)

Size S (Small)

Size M (Average)

Size L (Large)

Size XL (very large)

1 2 753 46

1 2 753 4 6


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After looking through the menu, you are going to take order

6. According to the following scale (1 = smallest amount; 7= largest amount), which

amount of each will you order?

a) Main dishes

b) Drink

c) Dessert

Normal

Largest

amount

Smallest

amount

1 2 753 4 6

1 2 753 4 6

1 2 753 4 6

Smallest

amount

Largest

amount

Largest

amount

Smallest

amount

Normal

Normal


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Part C

The following table consists of 10 sentences describing people. Please circle the most

suitable number to indicate the extent to which each sentence represents you.

Strongly

Disagree Disagree

Slightly

Disagree Neutral

Slightly

Agree Agree

Strongly

Agree

1 I feel that Im a person of

worth, at least on an equal

plane with others.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2 I feel that I have a number

of good qualities.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3 I am able to do things as

well as most other people.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4 I take a positive attitude

toward myself.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5 On the whole, I am satisfied

with myself.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6 I am inclined to feel that I

am a failure.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7 I feel I do not have much to

be proud of.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 I wish I could have more

respect for myself.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9 I certainly feel useless at

times.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10 At times, I think I am no

good at all.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7


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Part D

Can you guess the objective of this study?

Yes, it is about ______________________________________

No

Part E: Personal Information

Gender Male Female

Year of study Foundation Year 1 Year 2

Year 3 Year 4 or above Postgraduate

Faculty/School Arts Business Chinese Medicine

Communication Social Science Science

Visual Arts Other

End.

Thank you!


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Documents

Will our food consumption amount be affected by the server’s body shape?