Assessing children's reasoning about food, including their health knowledge and their food preferences, is an important step toward understanding how health messages may influence children's food choices. However, in many studies, assessing children's reasoning relies on parent report or could be susceptible to social pressure from adults. To address these limitations, the present study describes the development of a food version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The IAT has been used to examine children's implicit stereotypes about social groups, yet few studies have used the IAT in other domains (such as food cognition). Four- to 12-year-olds ( = 123) completed the food IAT and an explicit card sort task, in which children assessed foods based on their perception of the food's healthfulness (healthy vs. unhealthy) and palatability (yummy vs. yucky). Surprisingly, children demonstrated positive implicit associations towards vegetables. This pattern may reflect children's health knowledge, given that the accuracy of children's healthfulness ratings in the card sort task positively predicted children's food IAT scores. Implications for both food cognition and the IAT are discussed.
J Exp Soc Psychol. 2012 Jan;48(1):264-270
[PMID:
22184478]
Appetite. 2020 Jan 1;144:104458
[PMID:
31526837]
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2014 Aug 8;63(31):671-6
[PMID:
25102415]
J Nutr Educ Behav. 2014 Mar-Apr;46(2):121-7
[PMID:
24246710]
Soc Sci Med. 2016 Jan;148:34-41
[PMID:
26650928]
N Engl J Med. 2014 Jan 30;370(5):403-11
[PMID:
24476431]
Soc Sci Med. 2017 May;181:168-176
[PMID:
28407601]
Br J Nutr. 2005 May;93(5):741-6
[PMID:
15975175]
Eat Behav. 2012 Dec;13(4):371-4
[PMID:
23121790]
Cogn Emot. 2018 Aug;32(5):1122-1130
[PMID:
28795617]
Psychol Sci. 2019 Feb;30(2):174-192
[PMID:
30605364]
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2001 Oct;42(7):963-70
[PMID:
11693591]
Dev Sci. 2016 Sep;19(5):781-9
[PMID:
26260250]
Appetite. 2014 Feb;73:65-72
[PMID:
24177439]
Dev Sci. 2018 Sep;21(5):e12627
[PMID:
29193476]
Child Dev. 2006 Sep-Oct;77(5):1268-81
[PMID:
16999797]
J Appl Psychol. 2011 Jul;96(4):790-805
[PMID:
21280934]
Behav Res Methods. 2009 Nov;41(4):1149-60
[PMID:
19897823]
Health Educ Res. 2000 Feb;15(1):39-44
[PMID:
10788200]
Obes Res. 2003 Sep;11(9):1033-9
[PMID:
12972672]
Sleep Med Rev. 2007 Jun;11(3):163-78
[PMID:
17442599]
Psychol Sci. 2006 Jan;17(1):53-8
[PMID:
16371144]
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2019 Dec;148(12):2091-2103
[PMID:
30973249]
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2005 Feb;31(2):166-80
[PMID:
15619590]
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 Sep;19(9):1775-83
[PMID:
21681221]
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006 Mar;14(3):440-7
[PMID:
16648615]
Psychol Sci. 2013 Aug;24(8):1541-53
[PMID:
23804961]
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Aug 23;113(34):9480-5
[PMID:
27503878]
Health Psychol. 2010 Jul;29(4):389-93
[PMID:
20658826]
Front Psychol. 2015 Jan 06;5:1532
[PMID:
25610415]
Front Psychol. 2014 Jun 24;5:617
[PMID:
25009514]
Appetite. 2018 Jan 1;120:32-42
[PMID:
28837819]
Br J Soc Psychol. 2008 Sep;47(Pt 3):397-419
[PMID:
17880753]
Int J Obes (Lond). 2020 Mar;44(3):646-655
[PMID:
31477784]
Appetite. 1994 Oct;23(2):147-63
[PMID:
7864609]
Appetite. 2007 Jan;48(1):114-8
[PMID:
16962208]
Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2010;94:213-40
[PMID:
21036327]
Int J Obes (Lond). 2009 Sep;33(9):1063-73
[PMID:
19621020]
J Educ Psychol. 2011 Aug 1;103(3):594-606
[PMID:
21894237]
Obes Rev. 2015 May;16(5):424-32
[PMID:
25752592]
JAMA. 2016 Jun 21;315(23):2542-53
[PMID:
27327801]
J Exp Child Psychol. 2019 Mar;179:143-161
[PMID:
30513416]
J Acad Nutr Diet. 2016 Jan;116(1):21-7
[PMID:
26391469]
Health Psychol. 2015 Dec;34(12):1123-32
[PMID:
26030311]
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Mar;36(3):468-74
[PMID:
15076789]
Appetite. 2018 Aug 1;127:163-170
[PMID:
29729326]
