Hash browns for breakfast, baked potatoes for dinner: Changes in food attitudes as a function of motivation and context

Two studies investigated whether participants ’ motivational state and the context in which attitude reports are made influence food attitudes. Specifically, these studies examined whether hunger and the time-typicality of foods (i.e. match or mismatch between the time when a food is typically eaten and the time the attitude is reported) interact to influence reported attitudes. Study 1 suggests that hunger leads to more positive attitudes toward foods that are typically eaten at the time the attitude report is made (e.g. breakfast foods in morning) compared to foods not typically eaten at the time the attitude report is made (e.g. breakfast foods in evening). Study 2 replicates this time-typical effect of hunger and suggests that time-typical experience rather than general experience with foods is important for hunger induced attitude change. By demonstrating that food attitudes are influenced by motivational states and the match between when the attitude is reported and when it is typically encountered, the present studies extend previous attitude theory and research that has identified other contextual factors that influence attitude reports. Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. A basic function of attitudes is to provide ready evaluations of objects that can guide behaviour regarding those objects. These object-appraisal and utilitarian functions have been acknowledged