Children prefer natural things too

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Extensive work has documented our preference for natural things (Scott & Rozin, 2020). Research has revealed, for example, that adding chemicals reduces perceived naturalness much more than removing them (Rozin, 2005, 2006). Our natural preferences are associated with the rejection of certain technologies, such as GMOs (Scott et al., 2016) and cultured meat (Wilks & Phillips, 2017; Wilks, Hornsey & Bloom, under review).

Some research suggests that the basis of these preferences are moral or aesthetic, rather than instrumental (Li & Chapman, 2012; Rozin et al., 2004). And, importantly, some of this work proposes that our preference for natural things may be innate (i.e. biophilia). However, virtually no work has examined the emergence of naturalness preferences across development. This may offer insights into alternative mechanisms, such as social learning.

In the current series of preregistered studies, we examine whether young children also prefer natural foods. In Experiment 1 (N = 153), we show that children as young as 6 years showed more positive attitudes towards a farm grown apple than a lab made apple. Notably, this was consistent across a range of domains—expected taste, perceived safety, and willingness to consume. Further, when presented with a forced choice, children almost unanimously opted for the farm grown. In contrast to our hypotheses, we did not find any age effects—children as young as 6 responded similarly to those as old as 10 years.

In a follow up pilot (N = 19), we examined whether children as young as 4 years would explicitly apply the term “unnatural” to lab-grown food. As predicted, we found that they consistently reported that the lab made apple was more unnatural than the farm grown apple.

In ongoing work, we examine how children 5-9 years respond to more subtle variations of naturalness—examining how children respond to adding and removing chemicals to orange juice (which is shown to affect naturalness perceptions in adults; Rozin, 2005). We will compare these to adults’ judgements for the same scenarios to provide a nuanced investigation into the bounds of this apparent natural bias in young children.
In sum, early findings indicate that children as young as 6 years, and potentially as young as 4 years, show a strong preference for natural over unnatural foods. Although the magnitude of this preference remains unclear, this series of studies provides the first piece of evidence that these biases exist early in development.

Authors

• Matti Wilks, Yale University
  Presenting Author

• Paul Bloom, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author