Anders Emil Tobias Otterbring

• Peters, Kim; Jeftić, Alma; Ballard, Timothy; Zhou, Steven; Steffens, Niklas K. & Inceoglu, Ilke [Show all 380 contributors for this article] (2026). A Multi-Country Study of Women’s Political Representation and Gendered Political Leadership Stereotypes. 3069-2229. doi: 10.71240/lcyc.122835. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Political leadership positions are dominated by men. Arguably the most visible of a society’s positions of power, these positions may be important symbols of women’s ability to lead. If so, levels of female political representation within a society should shape its stereotypes of women’s suitability for political leadership. This project (lifecycle plan DOI:10.71240/lcyc.322400) tested this possibility by conducting a secondary analysis of a dataset that measured the stereotypes of women, men and political leaders in 42 countries covering six continents (Nsample = 22,996). Specifically, we tested whether, as a country’s representation of women in political leadership increases, there is a greater increase in the congruence of that country’s stereotypes of political leaders and women than in the congruence of that country’s stereotypes of political leaders and men. We also conducted exploratory analyses to identity whether other socio-ecological and cultural variables correlated with cross-national heterogeneity in the content and congruence of these stereotypes. Surprisingly, we did not find any evidence that the representation of women in politics affected the congruence of the stereotypes between political leaders and women or men. There was, however, (weak) evidence that political populism and conservatism may play a role in the congruence between political leader and gender stereotypes. These findings question the role of macro-level variables in micro-level gendered leadership beliefs.

• Toledo, Marcelo Javier Cardenas; Toledo, Juan Jose Cardenas; Schivinski, Bruno & Otterbring, Tobias (2026). More alike than unalike: Contextually aligned authority arguments amplify sustainable choices across cultures. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 148. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2026.106122. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Most research is conducted in Western societies, with few studies from Latin America. This oversight has led to a narrow understanding of the effectiveness that various sustainability-oriented interventions have in countries with different cultural values. As consumers play a vital role in mitigating climate change issues, this behavioral field experiment investigates whether reliance on the authority and commitment-consistency principles from social influence increases individuals' inclination to choose sustainably, and whether the effectiveness of these principles is culturally contingent. Participants from Ecuador and Norway (N = 346) were randomized to one of three conditions (control vs. authority vs. commitment-consistency), with the latter two conditions containing a message tailored to its associated social influence principle. After replying to some survey items, participants made a choice between a more (vs. less) sustainable option. A chi-square test revealed that both social influence conditions jointly boosted choice likelihood of the more sustainable option relative to the control condition, supporting our initial preregistered hypothesis. However, contrary to our second preregistered hypothesis, a regression-based simple moderation analysis using the PROCESS macro (Model 1) showed no country moderation in the effectiveness of these social influence principles; instead, the results were largely attributable to the authority condition alone, which was considerably more effective than both other conditions across countries, regardless of participants' trust in authorities and their need for consistency. Our findings demonstrate the superiority of contextually aligned authority arguments as a viable way to foster pro-environmental behaviors.

• Gómez-Corona, Carlos; Otterbring, Tobias & Jaeger, Sara R. (2026). Underrepresented populations in consumer research: An agenda for opening opportunities and closing challenges without hitting the PLATEAU. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 147. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2026.106080. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper develops an agenda for underrepresented populations in consumer research, highlighting both opportunities and challenges as well as ways to address them. Based on survey responses collected among attendees at the 16th Pangborn Symposium in 2025 together with data obtained through targeted LinkedIn posts in relevant communities (N = 104), we present preliminary evidence that matters linked to greater generalisability are deemed important on a wide array of parameters, including those linked to pressing societal issues, practical relevance and research practices, especially in applied relative to basic research. Adapted study designs, methods and analyses emerged as a key initiative to enable more research on underrepresented populations, while editorial policies that put a stronger emphasis on generalisability and sample diversity turned out to be the least popular initiative in this context. When asked to state which specific underrepresented populations participants would prioritise from a sensory and consumer research perspective, low-income populations were, by far, the most frequently selected category. Grounded in these results, we introduce the PLATEAU acronym, which describes the strong focus on People from Literate, Affluent, Technological, Educated, Anglicised and Urban settings, characterised by Western customs, consumption norms and food culture. We end the paper with several strategies and concrete examples on how to mitigate the present PLATEAU priority and inspire more research on underrepresented populations, while acknowledging complex challenges, including those related to systemic biases embedded in artificial intelligence.

• Peters, Kim; Jeftić, Alma; Ballard, Timothy; Zhou, Steven; Steffens, Niklas K. & Inceoglu, Ilke [Show all 379 contributors for this article] (2026). Think political leader — think he or she? A multi-country test of a gender-fair language intervention to reduce gendered leadership stereotypes. Leadership Quarterly. ISSN 1048-9843. 37(6), p. 101991–101991. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2026.101991. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Women are greatly underrepresented in positions of political leadership around the world. In seeking to explain this underrepresentation, some researchers have pointed to people's tendencies to stereotype leaders as more similar to men than women as these tendencies can support the belief that women are unsuited to leadership. This project aimed to test whether a subtle linguistic intervention was able to ameliorate this gender bias in political leadership stereotypes across different languages and national contexts (country/region N = 42, language N = 30, sample N = 22,996). Specifically, this project examined whether gender-fair language (e.g., the use of paired pronouns ‘he or she’) can reduce the tendency for people to stereotype political leaders as more similar to men than women. To increase the rigor with which these stereotypes were measured, this project complemented the dominant ‘cheap talk’ measure of personal stereotype content with an incentivised community measure of this content. As expected, participants stereotyped political leaders as more similar to men than women; this pattern was stronger on the incentivised measure of community stereotypes. Unexpectedly, there was no evidence that paired pronouns reduced this bias (there was weak exploratory evidence that paired nouns increased participants' tendencies to stereotype political leaders as more similar to women). This project suggests that the ability of gender-fair language interventions to ameliorate gender bias in the political leadership domain may be limited.

• Ecer, Emrullah; Gasiorowska, Agata & Otterbring, Tobias (2026). More materialistic by escaping experiences: experiential avoidance mediates the link between attachment anxiety and material values. Motivation and Emotion. ISSN 0146-7239. doi: 10.1007/s11031-026-10244-3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  People with attachment anxiety frequently experience problems in social relationships and tend to form a strong attachment toward material objects as a substitute for their interpersonal insecurities. However, the underlying mechanism linking attachment anxiety with material values is not well-defined. We propose that anxiously attached people are more prone to avoid thoughts, feelings, and experiences, thereby leading to greater material values. In three correlational studies and a preregistered experiment conducted across Russian, Turkish, Polish, and U.S. samples (N = 1,397), we investigated whether experiential avoidance mediates the link between attachment anxiety and material values. The indirect effect of attachment anxiety on material values through experiential avoidance was consistently significant across all studies. In Study 4, we also demonstrated that inducing attachment anxiety (vs. negative affect) led to a suppression of unwanted experiences, feelings, and thoughts, resulting in more material values. We suggest that interventions focused on secure relationships may enhance anxiously attached individuals’ action strategies, potentially reducing their material values, with implications for the literature on attachment styles and material values as well as broader models of social and clinical psychology.

• Kılıç, Anıl Savaş; Tavşan, Nihat; Duran, Cem; Ecer, Emrullah & Otterbring, Tobias (2026). Tipping to the top? Three conceptual replications on tipping tendencies in the non-WEIRD world. European Journal of Marketing. ISSN 0309-0566. 60(2), p. 544–561. doi: 10.1108/EJM-07-2025-0566. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose Most tipping studies from actual field settings have been conducted in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies, typically in the United States. Because tipping practices are culturally contingent, the current research sought test the applicability of former findings in a different cultural context. To this end, we examined the replicability of US-based tipping studies in the majority world – where most people live – through three conceptual replications conducted in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach We carried out three field experiments (Ntotal = 694 dining parties corresponding to 1737 consumers) as conceptual replications of published US-based tipping studies. Dining parties either received a blank check or a check with (a) the words “Thank you” added, with or without the server’s name included (Study 1); (b) a “smiley” drawn (Study 2); or (c) the words “Wish you a sunny day” written (Study 3). Tip amount, tip percentage and tip likelihood were analyzed depending on the assigned condition of the dining parties. Findings Across studies, most dining parties engaged in tipping irrespective of treatment. However, compared to receiving a blank check, tip amounts and tip percentages significantly increased by receiving a check with (a) the words “Thank you” added, especially when the server’s name was included (Study 1); (b) a “smiley” drawn (Study 2); and (c) the words “Wish you a sunny day” written (Study 3). Tip percentages were considerably lower than those reported in former US-based studies. In fact, the conditions with the highest tip percentages in the current studies fell far below the conditions with the lowest tip percentages in the original studies (i.e. the control conditions), indicating cross-cultural variability in certain tipping tendencies. Research limitations/implications The present studies generalize prior results in a different cultural context. From a managerial viewpoint, this research attests to the robustness and replicability of seemingly subtle tipping strategies, documenting that small details can benefit servers and possibly also the restaurants in which they operate. Practical implications Managers in the service and hospitality sectors can use the results reported herein to train and educate their employees in ways that generate practically relevant and economically significant boosts in customers’ tip amounts and tip percentages. Originality/value Studies 1–3 replicate some of the main results from prior research in another part of the world, with different cultural values and norms. Importantly, however, some results clearly diverged from prior findings, suggesting that certain tipping tactics may be contextually sensitive and, hence, might not generalize from WEIRD societies to other cultures. Considering repeated calls for more generalizable theories, these results add nuance to the tipping literature.

• Frank, Darius Aurel; Bruckdorfer, Raphaela; Jacobsen, Lina Fogt; Li, Yi & Otterbring, Tobias (2026). An Integrative Framework and Research Agenda for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in AI-Driven Marketing. Psychology & Marketing. ISSN 0742-6046. doi: 10.1002/mar.70111. Full text in Research Archive
• Gasiorowska, Agata; Folwarczny, Michał & Otterbring, Tobias (2026). Anxious aspirations: Attachment anxiety fuels status strivings through intrasexual competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. ISSN 0022-3514. doi: 10.1037/pspi0000512. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Striving for social status is a fundamental human motive, yet individuals vary considerably in their status-seeking tendencies. Drawing on attachment literature and life history theory, we propose that attachment anxiety drives status pursuit through heightened intrasexual competition. Across six preregistered studies (N = 4,456) spanning five countries, we find that attachment anxiety, rather than attachment avoidance, predicts status strivings. This relationship is mediated by intrasexual competition—competing with same-sex rivals—rather than, as previously documented, by materialism or general competitiveness. Experimental evidence confirms causality: Inducing attachment anxiety increases the desire for high-status cars and houses through heightened intrasexual competition. A moderation-of-process design demonstrates that experimentally manipulating intrasexual competition correspondingly enhances or reduces the effect of attachment anxiety on status strivings but only for high-status possessions. These effects hold for both men and women. Our findings show that anxiously attached individuals pursue status to compensate for relational insecurities, and they do so by competing with same-sex rivals. This research extends attachment theory to status pursuit and clarifies whether, when, and why individual differences in attachment patterns predict people’s status strivings.

• Klaus, Philipp ‘Phil’; Manthiou, Aikaterini; Luong, Van Ha; Norman, Elisabeth; Gornostaeva, Galina & Otterbring, Tobias (2026). The Big Five of Phygital Luxury Experience (PH-LX): A Transformative Luxury Research Perspective. Journal of Macromarketing. ISSN 0276-1467. doi: 10.1177/02761467261416743. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework, entitled The Big Five of Phygital Luxury Experience (PH-LX), to explore how the convergence of digital and physical touchpoints is redefining luxury customer experiences. Aligned with macromarketing principles and the Transformative Luxury Research (TLR) agenda, this paper proposes a novel conceptual framework, PH-LX, emphasizing luxury as a catalyst for consumer well-being, ethical consumption, and societal enhancement. Rather than treating these dimensions as fixed, we identify two transformational shifts reshaping the luxury landscape: (1) the evolution of luxury from static ownership models to orchestrated, evolving customer experiences, and (2) the redefinition of channels from fixed physical spaces to dynamic, fluid ecosystems of interaction. These shifts are analyzed through a longitudinal lens of past, present, and future across five interdependent dimensions: Identity Expectations, Access Emphasis, Main Channel, Philosophy, and Revenue Drivers. Grounded in macromarketing's normative agenda for human-centric market systems, this paper introduces a forward-looking conceptual model that emphasizes luxury experience as a platform for enhancing well-being and positive societal outcomes. Our analysis synthesizes literature from luxury branding, customer experience (CX), and digital transformation to surface the opportunities and tensions emerging in phygital luxury. The framework also foregrounds societal and ethical implications, including concerns around automation, access inequality, and data privacy. We conclude by offering a research agenda and managerial pathways to enable more inclusive and future-oriented luxury experience design.

• Henkin, Raz; Perez, Dikla & Otterbring, Tobias (2025). Phygital Luxury: The Influence of NFT-Linked Digital Twins on Consumer Responses to Physical Luxury Products. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research (JACR). ISSN 2378-1815. 10(2), p. 179–179. doi: 10.1086/734844. Full text in Research Archive
• Folwarczny, Michał; Gasiorowska, Agata; Sigurdsson, Valdimar & Otterbring, Tobias (2025). Renewable bites: How energy sources shape food healthiness judgments. Judgment and decision making. 20. doi: 10.1017/jdm.2025.10012. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Public opinion increasingly associates nuclear energy with negative environmental outcomes, but can this perception influence how people judge food? This study examines whether the perceived naturalness of energy sources used to manufacture kitchen appliances affects the perceived healthiness of foods prepared with those appliances. Food prepared with appliances manufactured using nuclear energy was consistently perceived as less healthy than food prepared with appliances manufactured without any specified energy source (Studies 1–3; 𝑁total = 1,939), with this negative nuclear effect also emerging when compared against a wind energy condition in the most well-powered, preregistered experiment (Study 3). Further, the effect of nuclear energy on healthiness perceptions was indirect through perceived risk (Study 3), implying that nuclear energy evoked greater perceived risk, which ultimately reduced perceived healthiness. This work extends contagion theory by showing that perceptions of unnaturalness can spread through abstract and distant links—such as energy sources used in manufacturing—to shape judgments in unrelated domains. The persistence of negative contagion effects associated with nuclear energy, but the more modest positive effects from wind energy, aligns with the principle of negativity dominance in contagion research. These results suggest that consumer resistance to nuclear energy may stem, in part, from naturalness perceptions.

• Frank, Darius Aurel; Folwarczny, Michał & Otterbring, Tobias (2025). Consumer Acceptance of High-Autonomy AI Assistants Is Driven by Perceived Benefits in Online Shopping Settings Characterized by Scarcity. Psychology & Marketing. ISSN 0742-6046. 43(3), p. 538–555. doi: 10.1002/mar.70074. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Across one behavioral field experiment and four controlled online experiments with almost 2000 US and UK shoppers, the current research investigates the role of perceived benefits in driving consumer acceptance of highly autonomous artificial intelligence (AI), while also examining whether contextual factors, such as scarcity, influence this relationship. A Google Ads campaign revealed higher click-through rates for high-autonomy (vs. low-autonomy) AI shopping assistants (Study 1). Scarcity amplified the perceived advantages of high-autonomy AI (Studies 2A-3B), whereas perceived benefits emerged as a central driver of adoption intentions of highly autonomous AI in scarcity-related contexts (Studies 3A-B). These findings replicate across study designs, settings, and outcomes, leveraging a novel contribution to the literature by shifting the focus from consumers’ personal sense of power to perceived benefits as pivotal drivers of AI acceptance. Managerially, the results suggest that firms can boost adoption of high-autonomy AI by emphasizing benefits, particularly experiential ones, in marketing communications efforts of AI systems, especially in settings characterized by scarcity.

• Ares, Gastón; Antúnez, Lucía; Alcaire, Florencia; Natero, Virginia; Gugliucci, Vanessa & Machín, Leandro [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2025). Associations between exposure to digital food marketing and food consumption in adolescence: a cross-sectional study in an emerging country. BMC Public Health. 25(1). doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-24443-z. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background Evidence regarding the link between digital food marketing and eating habits is lacking in the majority world, i.e., the world regions where most people live. This study sought to investigate (i) self-reported exposure to digital food marketing, (ii) associations between such exposure and socio-demographic characteristics, and (iii) associations between exposure and food consumption frequency among adolescents in a Latin American country (Uruguay). Methods A sample of adolescents aged between 11 and 19 years attending 29 public and 10 private high schools (n = 1542) was obtained through a cross-sectional survey using a stratified, two-stage cluster probability-based sampling approach. Participants filled out closed and open-ended questions about exposure to digital food marketing, food consumption frequency, social media usage, and socio-demographic characteristics. The data were analysed through descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regressions. Results Almost 90% of participants reported having seen a food or beverage advertisement on digital media in the week prior to the survey, with more than 70% of participants recalling advertisements of fast food, soft drinks, and savoury snacks. Age, socio-economic status, or total social media use did not predict exposure frequency of digital food marketing but females (vs. males) reported higher exposure. Exposure to advertisements of fast food or ultra-processed products on social media or websites and total social media use typically predicted higher reported consumption frequency of such categories. However, exposure to digital food marketing did not predict consumption frequency of fruits, vegetables, meats, or fish, although total social media use predicted lower consumption frequency of fruits and vegetables. Conclusions Mere recall of exposure to digital food marketing and total social media use were associated with higher consumption frequency of ultra-processed products and fast food. These findings underscore the need to introduce comprehensive mandatory policies to reduce adolescent exposure to digital food marketing featuring unhealthy foods.

• Gasiorowska, Agata; Folwarczny, Michał & Otterbring, Tobias (2025). Food choices flirt with gender norms in mating contexts. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 135. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105712. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We investigated how gender and different social contexts guide impression management through food choices at a casual dining chain restaurant. Waitstaff unobtrusively recorded 300 orders by groups of diners coded as romantic dates, friendship gatherings, or family meals. Photographs of all 89 menu items available at the restaurant were independently rated on perceived femininity, masculinity, sophistication, and expensiveness, with the price of the chosen meals also noted. Multilevel Bayesian models showed that men ordered more expensive dishes than women, a difference most pronounced on dates. Food chosen by men (women) was also perceived as more (less) masculine and less (more) feminine, with these gender differences amplified during dates and attenuated during family meals. Regardless of gender, diners selected more expensive and more sophisticated items during dates (vs. family meals). These findings suggest that mate attraction heightens conformity to gender-typical consumption norms, demonstrating the adaptive and situation-specific nature of impression management in social eating settings.

• Ares, Gastón; Machín, Leandro; Antúnez, Lucía; Alcaire, Florencia; Natero, Virginia & Gugliucci, Vanessa [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2025). Adolescents' spontaneous recall of food and beverage advertisements on digital media: a cross-sectional survey in Montevideo, Uruguay. Public Health Nutrition (PHN). ISSN 1368-9800. 28. doi: 10.1017/S1368980025101481. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objective: Explore adolescents’ recall of food and beverage advertisements in digital media, while evaluating associations between socio-demographic characteristics and advertisement recall. Design: Recruitment took place using a two-stage cluster probability-based sampling approach. Thirty-nine high schools stratified by type (public v. private) were included, with one class within each grade randomly selected, wherein attending students (n 1542; age range: 11–19 years) received a paper-and-pencil questionnaire for completion in their homes. Participants indicated their spontaneous recall of food and beverage advertisements on social media and provided socio-demographic information. Individual responses to an open-ended question were graphically represented using a world cloud, after which the data were analysed through content analysis based on inductive coding. Setting: The study was conducted in Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay, which is a high-income South American country with a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents. Participants: A total of 1542 adolescents attending public and private high schools participated. Results: Almost nine of ten adolescents (87·6 %) reported having seen a food or beverage advertisement on digital media and more than three of four (76·1 %) could spontaneously recall at least one such advertisement. The three most frequently used words for spontaneous recall were ‘McDonalds’, ‘Coke’ and ‘burgers’, whereas the three most frequently mentioned product categories were ‘Fast-food and fast-food restaurants’, ‘soft drinks’ and ‘savoury snacks’. Some socio-demographic differences emerged. Conclusions: The findings stress the need to implement mandatory regulatory approaches to reduce adolescent exposure to digital marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages.

• Otterbring, Tobias; Malodia, Suresh; Taheri, Babak & Dhir, Amandeep (2025). Activating Green Airport Actions: Promoting Eco-Friendly Choices for Sustainable Travel Through Commitment and Consistency. Journal of Travel Research. ISSN 0047-2875. doi: 10.1177/00472875251346930. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This research responds to challenges in promoting more sustainable responses among travelers. We posit that the commitment-and-consistency principle is a potent driver of more sustainable codes of conduct. Four experiments with more than 3,000 participants tested the impact of active (vs. passive or no) commitment on travelers’ likelihood to make sustainable choices at airports. A positive effect of active commitment emerged regarding travelers’ likelihood of making sustainable choices, with their consistency effort mediating this effect. Cultural belonging moderated this interplay, with active commitment being particularly powerful in individualistic (vs. collectivist) cultures. These findings contribute to commitment literature, offering actionable insights for airport managers, environmental NGOs, and policymakers alike. Specifically, our findings document that the cost-effective reliance on active commitment at commercial airport facilities boosts travelers’ general choice likelihood of sustainable options by roughly 50% to 75% compared to the existing (no commitment) status quo across settings and study paradigms.

• Otterbring, Tobias; Folwarczny, Michał & Sigurdsson, Valdimar (2025). Prompting pro-environmentalism through social proof: Trait conscientiousness moderates the effect of social proof on consumers' pro-environmental responses. Personality and Individual Differences. ISSN 0191-8869. 253. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2025.113629. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Sustainable consumption practices can drive environmental and societal benefits. One way of steering consumers in a desired direction is through the social proof principle, which posits that consumers are more inclined to exhibit a target behavior if they believe that many others already engage in said behavior. We conducted an online experiment (N = 376; US sample) to test whether reliance on social proof (vs. control) increases consumers' pro-environmental responses, and whether trait conscientiousness moderates this interplay. All included social proof messages outperformed the control condition, regardless of whether they were based on majority (vs. minority) information or dynamic (vs. static) social norms. Additionally, the social proof effect was particularly pronounced among consumers scoring low (vs. high) in trait conscientiousness, with these consumers typically exhibiting the least pro-environmental behaviors according to previous research. Taken together, the current findings carry important implications regarding ways to tackle climate change.

• Cologna, Viktoria; Meiler, Simona; Kropf, Chahan M.; Lüthi, Samuel; Mede, Niels G. & Bresch, David N. [Show all 209 contributors for this article] (2025). Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world. Nature Climate Change. ISSN 1758-678X. 15, p. 725–735. doi: 10.1038/s41558-025-02372-4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. Yet, little is known about the relationship between exposure to extreme events, subjective attribution of these events to climate change, and climate policy support, especially in the Global South. Combining large-scale natural and social science data from 68 countries ( N  = 71,922), we develop a measure of exposed population to extreme weather events and investigate whether exposure to extreme weather and subjective attribution of extreme weather to climate change predict climate policy support. We find that most people support climate policies and link extreme weather events to climate change. Subjective attribution of extreme weather was positively associated with policy support for five widely discussed climate policies. However, exposure to most types of extreme weather event did not predict policy support. Overall, these results suggest that subjective attribution could facilitate climate policy support.

• Mede, Niels G.; Cologna, Viktoria; Berger, Sebastian; Besley, John C.; Brick, Cameron & Joubert, Marina [Show all 210 contributors for this article] (2025). Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries: Global Evidence on How People Encounter and Engage with Information about Science. Science communication. ISSN 1075-5470. p. 1–46. doi: 10.1177/10755470251376615. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This 68-country survey ( n = 71,922) examines science information diets and communication behavior, identifies cross-country differences, and tests how such differences are associated with sociopolitical and economic conditions. We find that social media are the most used sources of science information in most countries, except those with democratic-corporatist media systems where news media tend to be used more widely. People in collectivist societies are less outspoken about science in daily life, whereas lower education is associated with higher outspokenness. Limited access to digital media is correlated with participation in public protests on science matters. We discuss implications for future research, policy, and practice.

• Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Gjoneska, Biljana; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Pfuhl, Gerit & Aguilar, Leonardo [Show all 196 contributors for this article] (2025). Cross-cultural data on romantic love and mate preferences from 117,293 participants across 175 countries. Scientific Data. 12. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-05365-2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Psychological studies on close relationships have often overlooked cultural diversity, dynamic processes, and potentially universal principles that shape intimate partnerships. To address the limited generalizability of previous research and advance our understanding of romantic love experiences, mate preferences, and physical attractiveness, we conducted a large-scale cross-cultural survey study on these topics. A total of 404 researchers collected data in 45 languages from April to August 2021, involving 117,293 participants from 175 countries. Aside from standard demographic questions, the survey included valuable information on variables relevant to romantic relationships: intimate, passionate, and committed love within romantic relationships, physical-attractiveness enhancing behaviors, gender equality endorsement, collectivistic attitudes, personal history of pathogenic diseases, relationship quality, jealousy, personal involvement in sexual and/or emotional infidelity, relational mobility, mate preferences, and acceptance of sugar relationships. The resulting dataset provides a rich resource for investigating patterns within, and associations across, a broad range of variables relevant to romantic relationships, with extensive opportunities to analyze individual experiences worldwide.

• Pfuhl, Gerit; Prazeres, Filipe; Kowal, Marta; Aavik, Toivo; Abad-Villaverde, Beatriz & Afhami, Reza [Show all 116 contributors for this article] (2025). A preliminary study on the role of personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases on self-reported health across countries. Public Health. ISSN 0033-3506. 242, p. 220–227. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2025.02.030. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objectives Infectious diseases are often associated with decline in quality of life. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between personal history of communicable, i.e., infectious and parasitic diseases and self-rated health. Study design Secondary analysis of a large dataset multi-country observational study. Methods We used a four-pronged analysis approach to investigate whether personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases is related to self-reported health, measured with a single item. Results Three of the four analyses found a small positive effect on self-reported health among those reporting a history of pathogen exposure. The meta-analysis found no support but large heterogeneity that was not reduced by two classifications of countries. Conclusion Personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases does not reduce self-reported health across a global sample.

• Skeie, Magnus Ivar Aagaard; Lindhjem, Henrik; Navrud, Ståle & Otterbring, Tobias (2025). How Sensitive are Environmental Values to Payment Card Design in Contingent Valuation? Land Economics. ISSN 0023-7639. 101(3), p. 398–422. doi: 10.3368/le.101.3.061924-0053R. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Contingent valuation studies of people’s willingness-to-pay for ecosystem services are frequently used to inform the social benefit-cost analysis of environmental protection measures. While contingent valuation is generally accepted in this context, response anomalies exist. Drawing on the anchoring-and-adjustment heuristic in psychology and the context effects literature, we examine the impact of subtle design variation on people’s willingness-to-pay. In a split-sample national survey of willingness-to-pay to prevent coastal environmental damages from oil spills, different payment card elicitation formats significantly affect mean willingness-to-pay. This underscores the importance of a research agenda on the effects of subtle design variation on environmental value estimates.

• Swami, Viren; Tran, Ulrich S.; Voracek, Martin; Aavik, Toivo; Ranjbar, Hamed Abdollahpour & Adebayo, Sulaiman Olanrewaju [Show all 253 contributors for this article] (2025). Self-Compassion Around the World: Measurement Invariance of the Short Form of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-SF) Across 65 Nations, 40 Languages, Gender Identities, and Age Groups. Mindfulness. ISSN 1868-8527. 16, p. 1569–1596. doi: 10.1007/s12671-025-02560-5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objectives The 12-item Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS–SF) is a widely used instrument for the assessment of self-compassion. To date, there have been few examinations of this instrument’s psychometric properties, particularly across nations and languages. Therefore, we used data from the Body Image in Nature Survey (BINS) to assess measurement invariance of the SCS–SF across nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups. Methods Participants (N = 56,968) from 65 nations completed the SCS–SF in 40 languages. Using these data, we tested various hypothesised models of the SCS–SF in the total sample and, using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, tested for invariance of the optimal model across national groups, languages, gender identities, and age groups. Results In the total dataset, we found that an 11-item, 2-factor model (i.e., SCS-11) provided best fit to the data, with the two factors tapping distinct constructs of compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding. The SCS-11 was found to be partially scalar invariant across national groups and languages, and fully scalar invariant across gender identities and age groups. There was wide variation in latent means for the two factors, particularly across national groups and languages. Further analyses showed negligible associations between the two factors and sociodemographic variables, including marital status, financial security, and urbanicity. Conclusions Our results suggest that it may be possible to derive a stable 2-factor model of the SCS–SF for use in crosscultural research, but also highlight the likelihood of cross-national and cross-linguistic variations in the way that selfcompassion is understood.

• Ares, Gastón; Alcaire, Florencia; Brunet, Gerónimo; Otterbring, Tobias; Costa, María & Verdier, Sofía [Show all 11 contributors for this article] (2025). Advertisements of ultra-processed products outside food outlets: Field evidence from Montevideo, Uruguay. Public Health Nutrition (PHN). ISSN 1368-9800. 28(1). doi: 10.1017/S1368980025000254. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of advertisements for ultra-processed products outside food outlets in Montevideo (Uruguay) and explore the patterns of these advertisements across areas with different socio-economic statuses (SES). Design: Cross-sectional field survey of advertisements of ultra-processed products outside food outlets. The percentage of outlets featuring any type of advertisement of ultra-processed products on the exterior part of the outlets was calculated, at the aggregate level and separately by type of outlet and type of product. Comparisons were made considering the SES of the tract where outlets were located. Setting: 106 census tracts in Montevideo, differing in geographical location and SES. Participants: Outlets selling foods and beverages, located within the selected census tracts. Results: 30·7 % of the 1217 food outlets identified in the field survey featured some type of exterior advertisement of ultra-processed products. Sweetened beverages (specifically soda) were the most frequently advertised ultra-processed product category, followed by ice cream. After adjusting for the type of outlet, medium SES tracts exhibited the highest prevalence of ultra-processed product advertisements outside food outlets (36·0 %). Differences in the prevalence of advertisements of specific categories with SES were also found, which may reflect variations in the types and characteristics of food outlets. Conclusions: Results from this work suggest the frequent presence of exterior advertisements of ultra-processed products and highlight the need to develop effective policies to reduce their use as part of a comprehensive set of strategies to discourage the consumption of ultra-processed products.

• Otterbring, Tobias; Thomassen, Erik; Øritsland, Casper Solli & Ares, Gastón (2025). Trying tongs and spoiling spoons: Effort nudges influence food consumption and may motivate healthier food decisions. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 127. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105435. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Healthier eating is crucial to tackle the rapid rise of obesity and noncommunicable diseases worldwide. This research examined two nudging interventions intended to decrease food consumption: price display and serving utensils. Forecasting experiments showed that people predicted displaying the price of the food per kg (vs. hg) should decrease the amount of food purchased (Study 1 A), but that using tongs (vs. spoon) would be ineffective (Study 1B). In contrast to these results, a high-powered preregistered field study at a university canteen (Study 2) revealed that price display had no notable effect; however, tongs (vs. spoon) reliably decreased the average amount of food purchased per meal by 14 g or 3.1 %, also when compared to weeks when both types of serving utensils were available. An image-supported online experiment with enhanced rigor and control (Study 3) replicated the results regarding tongs (vs. spoon) for a particularly unhealthy food category (candy), while highlighting a psychological mechanism driving the effect. Using tongs required more effort, which decreased satisfaction tied to using said serving utensils, thereby reducing people's willingness to consume candy. Given the simplicity and cost effectiveness of swapping spoons with tongs, combined with the behavioral evidence underscoring its practical relevance, these findings might aid in steering consumers to healthier food decisions, ultimately benefiting public health.

• Ackerman, Joshua M.; Samore, Theodore; Fessler, Daniel M.T.; Kupfer, Tom R.; Choi, Soyeon & Merrell, Wilson N. [Show all 115 contributors for this article] (2025). I see sick people: Beliefs about sensory detection of infectious disease are largely consistent across cultures. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. ISSN 0889-1591. 128, p. 737–750. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2025.04.020. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Identifying cues to contagious disease is critical for effectively tracking and defending against interpersonal infection threats. People hold lay beliefs about the types of sensory information most relevant for identifying whether others are sick with transmissible illnesses. Are these beliefs universal, or do they vary along cultural and ecological dimensions? Participants in 58 countries (N = 19,217) judged how effective, and how likely they were to use, cues involving each of the five major sensory modalities in an imagined social interaction during a flu outbreak. Belief patterns were strongly consistent across countries (sight > audition > touch > smell > taste), suggesting a largely universal conceptualization of the role of sensory information for interpersonal respiratory disease detection. Results also support a safe senses hypothesis, with perceivers reporting that they would use senses that function at a distance—and thus reduce pathogen transmission risk—more than would be expected given participants’ beliefs as to the efficacy of these senses for disease detection. Where societal variation did emerge, it was captured by a cohesive set of socio-ecological factors, including human development, latitude, pathogen prevalence, and population density. Together, these findings reveal a shared lens through which contagious respiratory disease is assessed, one that prioritizes minimizing risk to perceivers, and may offer leverage for designing interventions to improve public health.

• Swami, Viren; Stieger, Stefan; Voracek, Martin; Aavik, Toivo; Ranjbar, Hamed Abdollahpour & Adebayo, Sulaiman Olanrewaju [Show all 253 contributors for this article] (2025). Life satisfaction around the world: Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. PLOS ONE. 20(1), p. 1–34. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313107. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset–with data collected between 2020 and 2022 –to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). All participants completed the SWLS under largely uniform conditions. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated thatconfigural and metric invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional SWLS model has universal applicability. Full scalar invariance was achieved across gender identities and age groups. Based on align- ment optimisation methods, partial scalar invariance was achieved across all but three national groups and across all languages represented in the BINS. There were large differences in latent SWLS means across nations and languages, but negligible-to-small differences across gender identities and age groups. Across nations, greater life satisfaction was significantly associated with greater financial security and being in a committed relationship or married. The results of this study suggest that the SWLS largely assesses a common unidimensional con- struct of life satisfaction irrespective of respondent characteristics (i.e., national group, gender identities, and age group) or survey presentation (i.e., survey language). This has important implications for the assessment of life satisfaction across nations and provides information that will be useful for practitioners aiming to promote subjective well-being internationally.

• Mede, Niels G.; Cologna, Viktoria; Berger, Sebastian; Besley, John; Brick, Cameron & Joubert, Marina [Show all 241 contributors for this article] (2025). Perceptions of science, science communication, and climate change attitudes in 68 countries - the TISP dataset. Scientific Data. 12(1). doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-04100-7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Science is integral to society because it can inform individual, government, corporate, and civil society decision-making on issues such as public health, new technologies or climate change. Yet, public distrust and populist sentiment challenge the relationship between science and society. To help researchers analyse the science-society nexus across different geographical and cultural contexts, we undertook a cross-sectional population survey resulting in a dataset of 71,922 participants in 68 countries. The data were collected between November 2022 and August 2023 as part of the global Many Labs study “Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism” (TISP). The questionnaire contained comprehensive measures for individuals’ trust in scientists, science-related populist attitudes, perceptions of the role of science in society, science media use and communication behaviour, attitudes to climate change and support for environmental policies, personality traits, political and religious views and demographic characteristics. Here, we describe the dataset, survey materials and psychometric properties of key variables. We encourage researchers to use this unique dataset for global comparative analyses on public perceptions of science and its role in society and policy-making.

• Cologna, Viktoria; Mede, Niels G.; Berger, Sebastian; Besley, John; Brick, Cameron & Joubert, Marina [Show all 241 contributors for this article] (2025). Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries. Nature Human Behaviour. 9(4), p. 713–730. doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-02090-5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Science is crucial for evidence-based decision-making. Public trust in scientists can help decision makers act on the basis of the best available evidence, especially during crises. However, in recent years the epistemic authority of science has been challenged, causing concerns about low public trust in scientists. We interrogated these concerns with a preregistered 68-country survey of 71,922 respondents and found that in most countries, most people trust scientists and agree that scientists should engage more in society and policymaking. We found variations between and within countries, which we explain with individual- and country-level variables, including political orientation. While there is no widespread lack of trust in scientists, we cannot discount the concern that lack of trust in scientists by even a small minority may affect considerations of scientific evidence in policymaking. These findings have implications for scientists and policymakers seeking to maintain and increase trust in scientists.

• Folwarczny, Michał; Sigurdsson, Valdimar; Menon, R.G. Vishnu & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). Consumer susceptibility to front-of-package (FOP) food labeling: Scale development and validation. Appetite. ISSN 0195-6663. 192, p. 1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2023.107097. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias & Folwarczny, Michał (2024). Social validation, reciprocation, and sustainable orientation: Cultivating “clean” codes of conduct through social influence. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. ISSN 0969-6989. 76, p. 1–12. doi: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103612. Full text in Research Archive
• Malodia, Suresh; Otterbring, Tobias; Taheri, Babak & Dhir, Amandeep (2024). How Negative Framing Affects VR Tourism Adoption: Exploring the Role of Travel Anxiety During Crisis Events. Journal of Travel Research. ISSN 0047-2875. p. 1–20. doi: 10.1177/00472875241234387. Full text in Research Archive
• Ares, Gastón; Antúnez, Lucía; Alcaire, Florencia; Natero, Virginia & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). Is this advertisement designed to appeal to you? Adolescents' views about Instagram advertisements promoting ultra-processed products. Public Health Nutrition (PHN). ISSN 1368-9800. 27(1), p. 1–13. doi: 10.1017/S1368980024000533. Full text in Research Archive
• Mede, Niels; Cologna, Victoria; Berger, Sebastian; Besley, John; Brick, Cameron & Joubert, Marina [Show all 16 contributors for this article] (2024). Perceptions of science, science communication, and climate change attitudes in 68 countries – the TISP dataset. Frontiers in Nutrition. doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-04100-7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Science is integral to society because it can inform individual, government, corporate, and civil society decision-making on issues such as public health, new technologies or climate change. Yet, public distrust and populist sentiment challenge the relationship between science and society. To help researchers analyse the science-society nexus across different geographical and cultural contexts, we undertook a cross-sectional population survey resulting in a dataset of 71,922 participants in 68 countries. The data were collected between November 2022 and August 2023 as part of the global Many Labs study “Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism” (TISP). The questionnaire contained comprehensive measures for individuals’ trust in scientists, science-related populist attitudes, perceptions of the role of science in society, science media use and communication behaviour, attitudes to climate change and support for environmental policies, personality traits, political and religious views and demographic characteristics. Here, we describe the dataset, survey materials and psychometric properties of key variables. We encourage researchers to use this unique dataset for global comparative analyses on public perceptions of science and its role in society and policy-making.

• Frank, Darius-Aurel & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). Autonomy, power, and the special case of scarcity: Consumer adoption of highly autonomous artificial intelligence. British Journal of Management. ISSN 1045-3172. 35. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12780. Full text in Research Archive
• Konuk, Faruk Anıl & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). The dark side of going green: Dark triad traits predict organic consumption through virtue signaling, status signaling, and praise from others. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. ISSN 0969-6989. 76. doi: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103531. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The current study sought to test whether the dark triad personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy can be indirectly linked to organic food consumption through consumers’ levels of virtue signaling, status consumption, and praise from others. Based on a survey (N = 337) and structural equation modeling, we found consistent evidence for the notion that the links between each dark triad trait and (a) organic food purchase intentions, and (b) willingness to pay (WTP) for organic foods are mediated by status consumption and praise from others. Additionally, virtue signaling mediated this interplay for people who exhibit high (vs. low) degrees of narcissism and Machiavellianism, but not those who exhibit high (vs. low) degrees of psychopathy. Given that sustainability-related responses are typically portrayed as prosocial and positive, these results paint a more complex picture, with our findings linking organic consumption to a set of dark personality traits.

• Petit, Olivia & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). The Impact of Fusion Metaphors in Health Appeals on Consumer Attitudes Tasty but Unhealthy, Healthy but Not Tasty: Duality Considerations in Health Messaging. Journal of Advertising Research. ISSN 0021-8499. 64(1), p. 4–17. doi: 10.2501/JAR-2024-005. Full text in Research Archive
• Hasni, Muhammad Junaid Shahid; Konuk, Faruk Anıl & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). Anxious Altruism: Virtue Signaling Mediates the Impact of Attachment Style on Consumers’ Green Purchase Behavior and Prosocial Responses. Journal of Business Ethics. ISSN 0167-4544. doi: 10.1007/s10551-024-05734-8. Full text in Research Archive
• Folwarczny, Michał; Menon, R.G. Vishnu & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). Plate, glass, and social class: How dominance and prestige orientation shape food preferences. Personality and Individual Differences. ISSN 0191-8869. 225. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2024.112666. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias; Folwarczny, Michał & Gasiorowska, Agata (2024). The impact of hunger on indulgent food choices is moderated by healthy eating concerns. Frontiers in Nutrition. 11. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1377120. Full text in Research Archive
• Tan, Lynn K.L.; Folwarczny, Michał; Otterbring, Tobias & Li, Norman P. (2024). Hot at the top: The influence of self-rated attractiveness on self-perceived status. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology (CRESP). 7, p. 1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.cresp.2024.100205. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Beautism reflects the phenomenon of a widespread positivity bias that physically attractive people enjoy. This bias results in more attractive people receiving more positive social judgments, interactions, and economic outcomes. However, the literature has largely focused on third-party judgments of physical attractiveness, neglecting examinations of how self-rated attractiveness may predict self-evaluations. We sought to address this gap by examining how self-rated attractiveness predicts self-inferred social status, which is related to a myriad of psychosocial outcomes. Across one pilot test, one cross-sectional study, and a between-subjects experiment, we find converging evidence for the notion that self-rated physical attractiveness positively predicts higher self-inferred status. We discuss how this finding may have implications for status-navigating strategies in light of the malleability of self-rated attractiveness in a variety of social and occupational contexts.

• Otterbring, Tobias & Folwarczny, Michał (2024). From WEIRD to worldwide: Auditing authors’ affiliation countries over time across three leading journals publishing food-related research. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 117. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2024.105175. Full text in Research Archive
• Machín, Leandro; Gugliucci, Vanessa; Natero, Virginia; Alcaire, Florencia; León, Carolina De & Otterbring, Tobias [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2024). Characteristics of digital marketing of food outlets selling prepared foods: Analysis of instagram posts. Revista Chilena de Nutricíon. ISSN 0716-1549. 51(3), p. 198–207. doi: 10.4067/s0717-75182024000300198. Full text in Research Archive
• Frank, Darius-Aurel; Peschel, Anne Odile; Otterbring, Tobias; DiPalma, Jason & Steinmann, Sascha (2024). Does metaverse fidelity matter? Testing the impact of fidelity on consumer responses in virtual retail stores. International Review of Retail Distribution & Consumer Research. ISSN 0959-3969. 34(2), p. 251–284. doi: 10.1080/09593969.2024.2304810. Full text in Research Archive
• Frank, Darius-Aurel; Dipalma, Jason; Steinmann, Sascha & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). How the Presence of Employee Avatars Affects Metaverse Shopping Behavior “Can I Help You Buy Condoms?” Virtual Sales Promotions in Embarrassing Shopping Settings. Journal of Advertising Research. ISSN 0021-8499. 64(3), p. 335–352. doi: 10.2501/JAR-2024-017. Full text in Research Archive
• Folwarczny, Michał; Gasiorowska, Agata; Sigurdsson, Valdimar & Otterbring, Tobias (2024). Conspicuous consumption and conscientious conservation: Testing for a status-prosociality link through need for uniqueness and variety seeking. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption. 14. doi: 10.1016/j.clrc.2024.100219. Full text in Research Archive
• Malodia, Suresh; Filieri, Raffaele; Otterbring, Tobias & Dhir, Amandeep (2024). Unlocking Social Media Success: How Prosumers Drive Brand Engagement through Authentic Conversations with Consumers. British Journal of Management. ISSN 1045-3172. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12823. Full text in Research Archive
• Frank, Darius-Aurel; Chrysochou, Polymeros; Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Otterbring, Tobias & Ariely, Dan (2024). Navigating uncertainty: Exploring consumer acceptance of artificial intelligence under self-threats and high-stakes decisions. Technology in society. ISSN 0160-791X. 79. doi: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2024.102732. Full text in Research Archive
• Swami, Viren; White, Mathew P.; Voracek, Martin; Tran, Ulrich S.; Aavik, Toivo & Ranjbar, Hamed Abdollahpour [Show all 253 contributors for this article] (2024). Exposure and connectedness to natural environments: An examination of the measurement invariance of the Nature Exposure Scale (NES) and Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Journal of Environmental Psychology. ISSN 0272-4944. 99, p. 1–23. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102432. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Detachment from nature is contributing to the environmental crisis and reversing this trend requires detailed monitoring and targeted interventions to reconnect people to nature. Most tools measuring nature exposure and attachment were developed in high-income countries and little is known about their robustness across national and linguistic groups. Therefore, we used data from the Body Image in Nature Survey to assess measurement invariance of the Nature Exposure Scale (NES) and the Connectedness to Nature Scale (CNS) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups (N = 56,968). While multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) of the NES supported full scalar invariance across gender identities and age groups, only partial scalar invariance was supported across national and linguistic groups. MG-CFA of the CNS also supported full scalar invariance across gender identities and age groups, but only partial scalar invariance of a 7-item version of the CNS across national and linguistic groups. Nation-level associations between NES and CNS scores were negligible, likely reflecting a lack of conceptual clarity over what the NES is measuring. Individual-level associations between both measures and sociodemographic variables were weak. Findings suggest that the CNS-7 may be a useful tool to measure nature connectedness globally, but measures other than the NES may be needed to capture nature exposure cross-culturally.

• Ares, Gastón; Alcaire, Florencia; Antúnez, Lucía; Natero, Virginia; León, Carolina de & Gugliucci, Vanessa [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2023). Exposure effects to unfamiliar food advertisements on YouTube: A randomized controlled trial among adolescents. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 111. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2023.104983. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Despite the societal relevance of the topic, experimental evidence on the effects of digital food marketing on adolescents' food attitudes and choice behavior remains relatively scarce. Drawing on the logic model explaining the influence of marketing on health-related responses, the current between-subjects experiment sought to (i) evaluate the effects of exposure to unfamiliar food advertisements on YouTube with respect to adolescents' advertisement and brand recall, brand recognition, attitudes, and food choice in a hypothetical scenario; and (ii) compare the effect of exposure to advertisements promoting healthy (vs. unhealthy) food. Uruguayan adolescents (N = 433; 51% female) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups: a control group not exposed to any advertisement, a non-food group exposed to a clothing advertisement, an unhealthy food group exposed to an advertisement promoting a burger, and a healthy food group exposed to an advertisement promoting a salad. Following exposure to the advertisement, participants provided responses linked to advertisement and brand recall, brand recognition, attitudes, and food choice. The findings revealed that the largest effects of exposure to food advertisements emerged for advertisement recall and brand recognition (i.e., the most proximal steps in the logic model). Further, the burger advertisement was more easily recalled than the salad and the non-food advertisements, presumably due to its higher reward value. The effects of the food advertisements on brand attitudes and food choices were more inconclusive, although participants’ sex and frequency of burger consumption consistently moderated the impact of ad exposure on these outcomes, through mainly influencing males and adolescents who consumed burgers more frequently. Together, these results contribute to the literature on the effects of digital marketing by providing causal evidence for the role of advertisement exposure on adolescents’ advertisement and brand recall, brand recognition, brand attitudes, and choice behavior.

• Swami, Viren; Tran, Ulrich S; Stieger, Stefan; Aavik, Toivo; Ranjbar, Hamed Abdollahpour & abedayo, sulaiman [Show all 51 contributors for this article] (2023). Body appreciation around the world: Measurement invariance of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age. Body image. ISSN 1740-1445. 46, p. 449–466. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.07.010. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset – with data collected between 2020 and 2022 – to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated that full scalar invariance was upheld across all nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups, suggesting that the unidimensional BAS-2 model has widespread applicability. There were large differences across nations and languages in latent body appreciation, while differences across gender identities and age groups were negligible-to-small. Additionally, greater body appreciation was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction, being single (versus being married or in a committed relationship), and greater rurality (versus urbanicity). Across a subset of nations where nation-level data were available, greater body appreciation was also significantly associated with greater cultural distance from the United States and greater relative income inequality. These findings suggest that the BAS-2 likely captures a near-universal conceptualisation of the body appreciation construct, which should facilitate further cross-cultural research.

• Ares, Gaston; Alcaire, Florencia; Gugliucci, Vanessa; Machín, Leandro; León, Carolina de & Natero, Virginia [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Colorful candy, teen vibes and cool memes: prevalence and content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products targeted at adolescents. European Journal of Marketing. ISSN 0309-0566. doi: 10.1108/EJM-12-2022-0899. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Stereotypes, same-sex struggles, and sustainable shopping: intrasexual competition mediates sex differences in green consumption values. Baltic Journal of Management. ISSN 1746-5265. 18(4), p. 450–473. doi: 10.1108/BJM-10-2022-0379. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Purpose The present study aimed to investigate whether male consumers report weaker green consumption values than their female counterparts, and whether such a presumed sex difference, at least in part, can be explained by different levels of intrasexual competition. In other words, the study tested the notion that intrasexual competition acts as a psychological mechanism explaining why male (vs female) consumers are sometimes less prone to prefer and purchase sustainable goods, with their higher tendency to compete with same-sex rivals making them less likely to engage in green consumption. Design/methodology/approach The study was based on a large cross-sectional survey, in which a final sample of 1,382 participants (823 female and 559 male) provided complete responses on well-validated scales measuring intrasexual competition and green consumption values. The large sample size implies that even small effect sizes could be detected with high statistical power. The data were analyzed using a series of Mann–Whitney U tests to compare the responses made by male and female participants. Subsequently, multiple linear regressions as well as regression-based mediation and moderation analyses were performed with control variables added to show robustness of the results, test the proposed chain of events, and demonstrate generalizability. Findings Male (vs female) participants expressed significantly higher levels of intrasexual competition both generally and on the two subdimensions corresponding to superiority striving and inferiority irritation. Further, they were slightly less inclined to express green consumption values. Importantly, the sex difference in green consumption values was mediated by inferiority irritation as well as the entire intrasexual competition scale but not by superiority striving. Thus, men's inferiority irritation, in particular, and their more pronounced propensity to compete with same-sex rivals, in general, drove them away from green consumption, whereas women's weaker willingness to compete with same-sex rivals instead increased their inclination of “going green.” Originality/value Drawing on findings from the domains of competitiveness and gender stereotypes, the current research demonstrates a novel mechanism through which green consumption responses can be understood. Specifically, this study provides empirical evidence for the mediating role of intrasexual competition, especially regarding the more negatively charged subdimension of inferiority irritation, in explaining why male and female consumers may differ in terms of their green consumption values. The present research also contributes to the literature by questioning the unidimensional structure of the intrasexual competition scale and showing that the negative (vs positive) subdimension of this scale is more influential in explaining sex-differentiated patterns in consumers' green consumption values, thereby supporting the notion that “bad is stronger than good.”

• Elbæk, Christian T.; Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Aarøe, Lene & Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Subjective socioeconomic status and income inequality are associated with self-reported morality across 67 countries. Nature Communications. 14. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41007-0. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Individuals can experience a lack of economic resources compared to others, which we refer to as subjective experiences of economic scarcity. While such experiences have been shown to shift cognitive focus, attention, and decision-making, their association with human morality remains debated. We conduct a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between subjective experiences of economic scarcity, as indexed by low subjective socioeconomic status at the individual level, and income inequality at the national level, and various self-reported measures linked to morality. In a pre-registered study, we analyze data from a large, cross-national survey (N = 50,396 across 67 countries) allowing us to address limitations related to cross-cultural generalizability and measurement validity in prior research. Our findings demonstrate that low subjective socioeconomic status at the individual level, and income inequality at the national level, are associated with higher levels of moral identity, higher morality-as-cooperation, a larger moral circle, and increased prosocial intentions. These results appear robust to several advanced control analyses. Finally, exploratory analyses indicate that observed income inequality at the national level is not a statistically significant moderator of the associations between subjective socioeconomic status and the included measures of morality. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for understanding human morality under experiences of resource scarcity.

• Frank, Darius-Aurel; Jacobsen, Lina Fogt; Søndergaard, Helle Alsted & Otterbring, Tobias (2023). In companies we trust: consumer adoption of artificial intelligence services and the role of trust in companies and AI autonomy. Information Technology and People. ISSN 0959-3845. 36(8), p. 155–173. doi: 10.1108/ITP-09-2022-0721. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias; Borgen, Christine Sundgot; Bratland-Sanda, Solfrid & Trangsrud, Lise Katrine Jepsen (2023). Siblings, shopping, and sustainability: Birth-order differences in green consumption. Frontiers in Psychology. 14. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1105072. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Several studies have examined the role of birth order in shaping human personality, but fewer have tested this variable in relation to other pressing issues. We conducted a birth-order study on green consumption, which enabled us to detect a small-to-moderate effect size equivalent to r = 0.15 or d = 0.30 with sufficient statistical power (N = 335). To capture green consumption, participants indicated their tendency to express the value of environmental protection through purchases and consumption behaviors. Firstborns (vs. laterborns) consistently expressed lower concerns linked to environmental protection in their purchase patterns. While the effect size of this finding was small-to-moderate by conventional standards and in direct contrast to the findings from a recent article on the same topic, these results could still be informative to address challenges associated with climate change considering the number of individuals with siblings in the world and the ease with which birth-order data can be collected.

• Nyhus, Ellen K.; Frank, Darius Aurel; Krol, Michal & Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Crypto cravings: Gender differences in crypto investment intentions and the mediating roles of financial overconfidence and personality. Psychology & Marketing. ISSN 0742-6046. doi: 10.1002/mar.21921. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Cryptocurrencies have ballooned into a billion-dollar business. To inform regulations aimed at protecting consumers vulnerable to suboptimal financial decisions, we investigate crypto investment intentions as a function of consumer gender, financial overconfidence (greater subjective relative to objective financial knowledge), and the Big Five personality traits. Study 1 (N = 126) found that people believe each Big Five personality trait as well as consumer gender and financial overconfidence to predict consumers' crypto investment intentions. Study 2 (N = 1741) revealed that less than 1 in 10 consumers from a nationally representative sample (Norway) are willing to invest in crypto. However, the proportion of male (vs. female) consumers considering such investments is more than twice as large, with less (vs. more) agreeable and less (vs. more) conscientious, but more (vs. less) open and more (vs. less) financially overconfident consumers also being increasingly inclined to consider crypto investments. Financial overconfidence, agreeableness, and conscientiousness mediate the link between consumer gender and crypto investment intentions. These results hold after accounting for a theoretically relevant confounding factor (financial self-efficacy). Together, this research offers novel implications for marketing theory and practice that help understand the observed gender differences in consumers' crypto investments.

• Frank, Darius-Aurel & Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Being seen… by human or machine? Acknowledgment effects on customer responses differ between human and robotic service workers. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. ISSN 0040-1625. 189. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122345. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Intelligent machines are steadily replacing human workforce in retail and service. Although customers' short-term responses toward service robots are well understood, little is known about the potential long-term effects of replacing humans with robots in these settings. Drawing on social perception theory, the Stimulus–Organism–Response (SOR) model, and speciesism theory, the current research examines whether and how human and robotic service workers influence customers' loyalty responses depending on whether these living and nonliving entities acknowledge customers. Across three experiments and a series of different shopping settings (N = 1541), we expose customers to human (vs. robotic) service workers who do (vs. do not) acknowledge them through eye contact. A human (vs. robotic) acknowledgment was found to result in significantly more favorable loyalty responses; an effect mediated by the perceived warmth and, to a lesser extent, the perceived competence of the service workers. These findings hold across embarrassing (e.g., shopping for lingerie or sex toys) and non-embarrassing (e.g., shopping for shoes) settings, offering generalizable insights for managers and scholars concerned with the outcomes of implementing innovative human-centric technologies in various consumption contexts.

• Otterbring, Tobias; Arsenovic, Jasenko; Samuelsson, Peter; Malodia, Suresh & Dhir, Amandeep (2023). Going the Extra Mile, Now or After a While: The Impact of Employee Proactivity in Retail Service Encounters on Customers’ Shopping Responses. British Journal of Management. ISSN 1045-3172. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12765. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Employee proactivity has been discussed as a key predictor of firm success and organizational performance. However, previous proactivity research has rarely focused on customers, and the few available proactivity studies from retail settings are either cross-sectional, solely based on subjective outcomes (e.g. customer satisfaction) or restricted to aggregated data of objective outcomes (e.g. profits per store). We investigate the causal effect of employee proactivity in retail service encounters on customers’ actual purchase behaviour and satisfaction ratings at the fine-grained level of individual customers. By integrating theories on social perception with prior proactivity findings, we find that employee proactivity positively predicts customers’ shopping responses. This finding extends from correlational to experimental designs across sample types and paradigms, is replicated in actual retail settings, and is mediated by customers’ perceptions of employee warmth and competence. Furthermore, the effect generalizes across several focal outcomes, including behavioural variables (spending and purchase likelihood), and is moderated by the time to employee-initiated contact in a way that goes against customers’ own beliefs. In sum, the present research quantifies the financial consequences of employee proactivity and indicates that in ordinary retail service encounters, high proactivity can compensate for delays, thus counteracting the aversive aspects of waiting.

• Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Dinić, Bojana M.; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Gjoneska, Biljana & Frederick, David A. [Show all 87 contributors for this article] (2023). Validation of the Short Version (TLS-15) of the Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45) across 37 Languages. Archives of Sexual Behavior. ISSN 0004-0002. doi: 10.1007/s10508-023-02702-7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Love is a phenomenon that occurs across the world and affects many aspects of human life, including the choice of, and process of bonding with, a romantic partner. Thus, developing a reliable and valid measure of love experiences is crucial. One of the most popular tools to quantify love is Sternberg’s 45-item Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45), which measures three love components: intimacy, passion, and commitment. However, our literature review reveals that most studies (64%) use a broad variety of shortened versions of the TLS-45. Here, aiming to achieve scientific consensus and improve the reliability, comparability, and generalizability of results across studies, we developed a short version of the scale—the TLS-15—comprised of 15 items with 5-point, rather than 9-point, response scales. In Study 1 (N = 7,332), we re-analyzed secondary data from a large-scale multinational study that validated the original TLS-45 to establish whether the scale could be truncated. In Study 2 (N = 307), we provided evidence for the three-factor structure of the TLS-15 and its reliability. Study 3 (N = 413) confirmed convergent validity and test–retest stability of the TLS-15. Study 4 (N = 60,311) presented a large-scale validation across 37 linguistic versions of the TLS-15 on a cross-cultural sample spanning every continent of the globe. The overall results provide support for the reliability, validity, and cross-cultural invariance of the TLS-15, which can be used as a measure of love components—either separately or jointly as a three-factor measure.

• Folwarczny, Michal; Otterbring, Tobias; Sigurdsson, Valdimar & Tan, Lynn K. L. (2023). Naturally green, irrationally lean: How background scenery affects calorie judgments. Food Research International. ISSN 0963-9969. 164(February). doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112339. Full text in Research Archive
• Azevedo, Flavio; Pavlovic, Tomislav; Rego, Gabriel G.; Ay, Fehime Ceren; Gjoneska, Biljana & Etienne, Tom W. [Show all 50 contributors for this article] (2023). Social and moral psychology of COVID-19 across 69 countries. Scientific Data. 10. doi: 10.1038/s41597-023-02080-8. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The COVID-19 pandemic has afected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and collective behaviour change. To help scholars better understand the social and moral psychology behind public health behaviour, we present a dataset comprising of 51,404 individuals from 69 countries. This dataset was collected for the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 project (ICSMP COVID-19). This social science survey invited participants around the world to complete a series of moral and psychological measures and public health attitudes about COVID-19 during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and June 2020). The survey included seven broad categories of questions: COVID-19 beliefs and compliance behaviours; identity and social attitudes; ideology; health and well-being; moral beliefs and motivation; personality traits; and demographic variables. We report both raw and cleaned data, along with all survey materials, data visualisations, and psychometric evaluations of key variables.

• Gugliucci, Vanessa; Machín, Leandro; Alcaire, Florencia; Otterbring, Tobias; León, Carolina de & Natero, Virginia [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). The content of Instagram posts featuring ultra-processed products through the lens of the heuristic-systematic model. Appetite. ISSN 0195-6663. 181. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106393. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Digital marketing has seen a rapid rise in the last decade as a consequence of the increased popularity of social media. However, few studies so far have analyzed the prevalence and persuasive power of digital marketing of ultra-processed products. The present study aimed at: (i) analyzing the content of Instagram posts of ultra-processed products through the lens of the heuristic-systematic model, and (ii) evaluating the influence of the content of the posts on user interactions. A search for Instagram accounts of ultra-processed products was performed using a master list of products commercialized in the two most popular online supermarkets in Uruguay. For each of the identified Instagram accounts, all the content posted in a 6-month period was recorded (August 15th, 2020 to February 15th, 2021). The posts were analyzed using content analysis based on inductive coding, and gradient boosting models (GBMs) were used to address the second study objective. A total of 2178 Instagram posts promoting specific ultra-processed products or brands were identified. The posts included a diverse set of cues to trigger both systematic and heuristic processing. References to the pleasure derived from product consumption as well as health-related cues were most prevalent. The GBM showed that references to contests and raffles and invitations to interact encouraged users to engage with the posts through posting comments. Taken together, results stress the need to implement comprehensive regulatory approaches to reduce exposure to and the power of digital marketing of ultra-processed products given the harmful health-related consequences associated with excessive consumption of such products.

• Schaerer, Michael; Plessis, Christilene du; Nguyen, My Hoang Bao; Aert, Robbie C. M van; Tiokhin, Leo & Lakens, Daniel [Show all 13 contributors for this article] (2023). On the trajectory of discrimination: A meta-analysis and forecasting survey capturing 44 years of field experiments on gender and hiring decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. ISSN 0749-5978. 179(November). doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2023.104280. Full text in Research Archive
• Folwarczny, Michał; Larsen, Nils Magne; Otterbring, Tobias; Gasiorowska, Agata & Sigurdsson, Valdimar (2023). Viral Viruses and Modified Mobility: Cyberspace Disease Salience Predicts Human Movement Patterns. Journal of Sustainable Marketing. 4(1), p. 110–127. doi: 10.51300/JSM-2023-83. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Humans have a motivational system that influences cognition and behavior to minimize the risk of contact with pathogens. This research examines the relationship between cyberspace disease salience and mobility behavior at the macro and micro levels. Across two studies, we predict and find that people adjust their mobility behavior to minimize the risk of close physical contact with strangers when cyberspace disease salience is high (vs. low). In Study 1, we analyze hourly sales data from five grocery stores and find that when cyberspace disease salience is high (vs. low), consumers spend 28% more money on each shopping trip and grocery stores sell 10% more items per hour despite 10% fewer shoppers per hour. Further, in Study 2, we test the generalizability of these results by analyzing the Google Community Mobility Reports. Here we find that high (vs. low) cyberspace disease salience is associated with an overall decrease in mobility in contexts where the risk of close contact with strangers is high—but not low. We discuss these findings in the context of sustainable consumer (mobility) behavior.

• Ares, Gastón; Natero, Virginia; Gugliucci, Vanessa; Machín, Leandro; Alcaire, Florencia & León, Carolina de [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Health-Washing of Ultraprocessed Products on Instagram: Prevalence and Strategies in an Emerging Market. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. ISSN 1499-4046. 55(11), p. 815–822. doi: 10.1016/j.jneb.2023.09.001. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Objective To evaluate the prevalence of health-related cues as part of the digital marketing of ultraprocessed foods on Instagram among food companies in Uruguay. Methods Cross-sectional exploratory study. All content posted by 118 Instagram accounts of companies promoting ultraprocessed foods in Uruguay over 6 months (from August 2020 to February 2021) was retrieved. The content of 1,893 Instagram posts was coded considering visual and textual cues conveying health-related associations. The number and percentage of posts, including cues within each category and theme, were calculated. Results More than half of all posts contained at least 1 visual or textual cue conveying health-related associations. Three main themes emerged: i) product composition, ii) healthy lifestyle, and iii) health and health benefits. The prevalence of health-related cues differed dramatically across product categories, ranging from 100% to 1.5%. Conclusions and Implications Health-washing constitutes an integral part of the digital marketing of ultraprocessed foods on Instagram in Uruguay. The inclusion of health-related cues can potentially undermine public health efforts targeted at reducing consumption of these foods. These findings suggest that strict and comprehensive regulations on the digital marketing of such products are needed in policies promoting healthy eating habits globally.

• Grossmann, Igor; Rotella, Amanda; Hutcherson, Cendri A.; Sharpinskyi, Konstantyn; Varnum, Michael E. W. & Achter, Sebastian [Show all 139 contributors for this article] (2023). Insights into the accuracy of social scientists’ forecasts of societal change. Nature Human Behaviour. 7, p. 484–501. doi: 10.1038/s41562-022-01517-1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  How well can social scientists predict societal change, and what processes underlie their predictions? To answer these questions, we ran two forecasting tournaments testing the accuracy of predictions of societal change in domains commonly studied in the social sciences: ideological preferences, political polarization, life satisfaction, sentiment on social media, and gender–career and racial bias. After we provided them with historical trend data on the relevant domain, social scientists submitted pre-registered monthly forecasts for a year (Tournament 1; N = 86 teams and 359 forecasts), with an opportunity to update forecasts on the basis of new data six months later (Tournament 2; N = 120 teams and 546 forecasts). Benchmarking forecasting accuracy revealed that social scientists’ forecasts were on average no more accurate than those of simple statistical models (historical means, random walks or linear regressions) or the aggregate forecasts of a sample from the general public (N = 802). However, scientists were more accurate if they had scientific expertise in a prediction domain, were interdisciplinary, used simpler models and based predictions on prior data.

• Frank, Darius-Aurel & Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Autonomy, Power and the Special Case of Scarcity: Consumer Adoption of Highly Autonomous Artificial Intelligence. British Journal of Management. ISSN 1045-3172. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12780. Full text in Research Archive
• Gasiorowska, Agata; Folwarczny, Michał; Tan, Lynn K. L. & Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Delicate dining with a date and burger binging with buddies: impression management across social settings and consumers’ preferences for masculine or feminine foods. Frontiers in Nutrition. 10(1127409). doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1127409. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Consumers often use their food choices as an impression management strategy to signal desirable aspects about themselves to others, especially in public places like restaurants and cafeterias, where the presence of others can promote certain consumption choices and preference patterns. In mating contexts, people prefer gender-typical traits and characteristics in a potential partner. Food options can also be classified according to their gender typicality, with certain alternatives perceived as feminine (e.g., salad, seafood) and with other options perceived as more masculine (e.g., steak, burger). Drawing on impression management theories from the drinking and dining domain and literature on sex differences in human mate preferences, we present a high-powered experiment investigating whether consumers’ preferences for masculine or feminine foods depend on the social setting in which the food consumption takes place: dining with an attractive date (mating) or meeting and eating with friends (non-mating). Participants (N = 162, 46.9% females, 53.1% males; age M = 41.8  years, SD = 14.5) were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions (mating vs. non-mating) and were asked to indicate their food preferences for 15 dishes that differed markedly in perceived femininity/masculinity. Consistent with our theorizing, females (males) generally had a stronger preference for foods perceived as more feminine (masculine), thereby supporting the gender-typicality thesis at the aggregate level. Furthermore, females in the mating condition—but not females in the non-mating condition—reported significantly stronger preferences for more feminine food alternatives. However, in direct contrast to our theorizing, males preferred more masculine meals in the non-mating condition (i.e., when dining with friends), whereas this gender-typical tendency did not emerge in the mating condition (i.e., when dining with an attractive date). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and present a set of fruitful avenues for future research.

• Otterbring, Tobias; Folwarczny, Michał & Gidlöf, Kerstin (2023). Hunger effects on option quality for hedonic and utilitarian food products. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 103. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104693. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Multiple studies have examined the extent to which consumers’ hunger levels predict their food choices and preference patterns. These investigations often involve making binary choices between hedonic foods (e.g., ice cream) that primarily serve to provide sensory pleasure, and utilitarian foods (e.g., bread) that mainly fulfill functional purposes. However, most consumers entering a grocery store are not restricted to solely selecting either hedonic or utilitarian foods. Rather, they typically choose both hedonic and utilitarian food options. Moreover, little is known about the effects of hunger on consumers’ option quality (i.e., the degree of match between actual food choices and stated preferences) or their cognitive performance in food contexts. To address these gaps, the current study explored (1) whether experimentally induced hunger (vs. satiation) influences the option quality of consumers’ chosen food items; (2) whether this potential interplay is contingent on the food category (hedonic vs. utilitarian); and (3) whether hungry (vs. satiated) consumers’ performance may differ on cognitively challenging tasks. The results revealed that hunger did not lead to a generalized decrease in consumers’ option quality. However, option quality was inferior for utilitarian—but not hedonic—foods among hungry consumers, whereas no such differences were found for satiated consumers. Hungry (vs. satiated) consumers also performed significantly worse on cognitively demanding tasks, underscoring the far-reaching consequences of hunger on consumers’ decision-making. Further research should test the generalizability of these results in ecologically valid settings, such as in actual supermarkets.

• Christensen, Jacob Dalgaard; Otterbring, Tobias & Lagerkvist, Carl-Johan (2023). Smaller prize, bigger size? Exploring the impact of money on men’s self-reported markers of masculinity. Frontiers in Psychology. 14. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1105423. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Bodily markers, often self-reported, are frequently used in research to predict a variety of outcomes. The present study examined whether men, at the aggregate level, would overestimate certain bodily markers linked to masculinity, and if so, to what extent. Furthermore, the study explored whether the amount of monetary rewards distributed to male participants would influence the obtained data quality. Men from two participant pools were asked to self-report a series of bodily measures. All selfreport measures except weight were consistently found to be above the population mean (height and penis size) or the scale midpoint (athleticism). Additionally, the participant pool that received the lower (vs. higher) monetary reward showed a particularly powerful deviation from the population mean in penis size and were significantly more likely to report their erect and flaccid penis size to be larger than the claimed but not verified world record of 34 cm. These findings indicate that studies relying on men’s self-reported measures of certain body parts should be interpreted with great caution, but that higher monetary rewards seem to improve data quality slightly for such measures.

• Ares, Gastón; Antúnez, Lucía; Curutchet, María Rosa; Galicia, Luis; Natero, Virginia & Giménez, Ana [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2023). Qualitative exploration of the reasons for not using nutritional warnings after policy implementation in Uruguay. Health Promotion International. ISSN 0957-4824. 38(1). doi: 10.1093/heapro/daac174. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Nutritional warnings have gained popularity, particularly in the region of the Americas, to facilitate the identification of products with excessive content of nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases and encourage healthier food choices. Although warnings have been shown to be effective, an in-depth understanding of the reasons why some consumers do not use them is still lacking. The aim of the present work was to explore self-reported use of nutritional warnings and to identify the reasons for not considering nutritional warnings for making food purchase decisions after policy implementation in Uruguay. A non-probabilistic sample of 858 Uruguayan participants was recruited using an advertisement on Facebook and Instagram. Through an online survey, self-reported use of nutritional warnings was asked using a closed-open ended questions. Participants who reported not considering warnings to make their purchase decisions were asked to explain the reasons why using an open-ended question. Responses were analysed using deductive coding, based on the Behavioural Drivers Model. Thirty seven percent of the participants stated that the warnings had not influenced their purchase decisions. Motives for not being influenced by the warnings were related to lack of interest, attitudes, lack of perceived self-efficacy, cognitive biases and limited rationality when making purchase decisions. In addition, structural barriers, such as availability, cost and trust in the food industry also emerged from participants’ responses. Strategies to encourage the use of warnings should include communication campaigns and policies to address structural barriers related to the perceived availability and affordability of healthy foods.

• Folwarczny, Michał; Otterbring, Tobias & Ares, Gastón (2023). Sustainable food choices as an impression management strategy. Current Opinion in Food Science. ISSN 2214-7993. 49. doi: 10.1016/j.cofs.2022.100969. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Although living standards in certain parts of the world have improved significantly in recent decades, these improvements have often been accompanied by environmental degradation that poses health risks to millions of people. Sustainable food choices play a critical role in addressing these environmental challenges. The current review summarizes how sustainable food choices are used as an impression management action aimed at projecting a desirable image of oneself to others. We show how three distinct factors — status striving, group cooperation, and the desire to attract a partner — influence the use of sustainable food as an impression management tactic. The review concludes by highlighting several future research directions based on recent research on related topics.

• Otterbring, Tobias; Rolschau, Kristian & Folwarczny, Michał (2023). Cash—Walk the line: Examining the impact of payment method on consumers' beer choices. Journal of sensory studies. ISSN 0887-8250. 38(5). doi: 10.1111/joss.12861. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Previous research has revealed that consumers spend less (more) money when paying through cash (credit card). This effect has been attributed to the pain of paying, which is higher (lower) in the case of cash (credit card) payments. We tested the pain-of-paying phenomenon at a bar and collected objective data on almost 1000 beer transactions, including information about the size of the beer consumed (small vs. large), the price paid per beer, the style of the beer, and consumers' payment method (cash vs. credit card). Consumers paying with cash (vs. credit card) spent less money per beer and were less inclined to choose large (vs. small) beers, with the payment method effect on money spent mediated by the size of the purchased beer. Moreover, those paying with cash (vs. credit card) were more inclined to choose dark beers, whereas their probability of purchasing India Pale Ales (IPAs) was directionally lower.Practical ApplicationsGiven our findings that payment method seems to influence alcohol consumption, these results should have important implications for bar and restaurant managers as well as for interventions aimed at mitigating consumer overspending on alcoholic beverages. Specifically, our findings align with research suggesting that card payments promote less healthy and more impulsive choices than cash payments. Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with numerous psychophysiological problems, whereas developing social ties, which is common among craft beer enthusiasts, reduces stress levels and improves mental health. Therefore, a reasonable compromise seems to be that policymakers recommend cash payments for alcoholic beverages to maximize social network development while minimizing the risk of excessive alcohol consumption. The result that consumers who paid with cash (vs. credit card) were more prone to purchase dark beers but slightly less likely to buy IPAs warrants further investigation.

• Siepelmeyer, Henrik & Otterbring, Anders Emil Tobias (2022). Citizen Coherence and Cultivated Cleanliness: Using Technology-Induced Social Norms to Strengthen Sustainable Household Bonds. Frontiers in Sustainability. 3. doi: 10.3389/frsus.2022.899938. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Social identity and social capital are critical to human well-being and sustainable development. However, existing research on sustainable behavior typically treats these factors merely as taken-for-granted preconditions to environmental protection. This paper argues that they can also be direct outcomes of environment-oriented efforts, thus becoming drivers of sustainable societies. As part of a larger research project on household recycling and waste behavior, the authors assess and compare perceived social identity and social capital of residents in a multi-family residential dwelling in Sweden before (N = 66) and after (N = 18) exposure to a social norm-based intervention delivered through a smartphone app. Reported levels of social identity and social capital were higher after (vs. before) the intervention, both compared to participants' own previous measurement and a control group. Together, the current research offers a novel perspective on technology-enabled social norms. Specifically, such norms may not only create sustainable responses immediately, but may also play a pivotal role in shaping more sustainable communities in the long run. Future studies are needed to elucidate the specific psychological mechanisms driving the observed effects and shed further light on whether, when, and why social norms may foster sustainable responses with a clear social connotation.

• Otterbring, Anders Emil Tobias (2022). Physical proximity as pleasure or pain? A critical review of employee–customer proximity in sales and services settings. Journal of Financial Services Marketing. ISSN 1363-0539. doi: 10.1057/s41264-021-00131-y. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper presents a critical review of published findings pertaining to the physical proximity between employees and customers in various sales and service settings. Following an overview of this stream of research, reflections are then offered on how the concepts of personal space and physical proximity may have changed in terms of their financial and well-being-related effects as a function of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the risk of infection in interpersonal interactions, and despite the affiliative aspects associated with physical proximity, recent recipes for success—as advocated by academics—may eventually have a negative impact on multiple crucial metrics in a post-pandemic world, such that employees’ physical proximity to customers may soon come with a wide array of costly consequences. The article concludes with a set of future research directions.

• Pérez, Lucía; Antúnez, Lucía; Otterbring, Anders Emil Tobias & Ares, Gastón (2022). The impact of nutritional warnings on the mental associations raised by advertisements featuring ultra-processed food products. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. 101. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2022.104648. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Governments worldwide are increasingly mandating the inclusion of graphic and textual warnings on the packages and advertisements of processed products with high content of nutrients associated with non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of nutritional warnings on the mental associations raised by advertisements featuring ultra-processed products. An online experiment was performed with a convenience sample of 380 Uruguayan participants. Participants were exposed to either control advertisements or advertisements featuring black octagonal nutritional warnings. Right after watching the advertisements, they were asked to complete a word association task. Responses were grouped into 20 categories following inductive coding. A generalized linear model was used to assess the effect of experimental condition on the likelihood of providing responses within each of the identified categories. Participants exposed to the advertisements with (vs. without) warnings were more likely to provide responses related to NCDs or nutritional warnings. Meanwhile, no significant differences were found in the frequency of mention of categories related to sensory, hedonic, emotional, or social aspects linked to consuming the products between participants exposed to advertisements with and without warnings. These results suggest that nutritional warnings may be a promising strategy to make consumers aware of the nutritional characteristics of ultra-processed products without affecting the ability of advertisements to convey their intended message.

• Pavlović, Tomislav; Azevedo, Flavio; De, Koustav; Riaño-Moreno, Julián C.; Maglić, Marina & Otterbring, Anders Emil Tobias [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2022). Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning. PNAS Nexus. Full text in Research Archive
• Delios, Andrew; Clemente, Elena Giulia; Wu, Tao; Tan, Hongbin; Domenico, Michael Gordon & Otterbring, Anders Emil Tobias [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2022). Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). ISSN 0027-8424. 119(30). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2120377119. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability—for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples.

• Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Valentova, Jaroslava Varella; Varella, Marco A. C. & Frederick, David A. [Show all 78 contributors for this article] (2022). Predictors of enhancing human physical attractiveness: Data from 93 countries. Evolution and human behavior. ISSN 1090-5138. 43(6), p. 455–474. doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.08.003. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  People across the world and throughout history have gone to great lengths to enhance their physical appearance. Evolutionary psychologists and ethologists have largely attempted to explain this phenomenon via mating preferences and strategies. Here, we test one of the most popular evolutionary hypotheses for beauty-enhancing behaviors, drawn from mating market and parasite stress perspectives, in a large cross-cultural sample. We also test hypotheses drawn from other influential and non-mutually exclusive theoretical frameworks, from biosocial role theory to a cultural media perspective. Survey data from 93,158 human participants across 93 countries provide evidence that behaviors such as applying makeup or using other cosmetics, hair grooming, clothing style, caring for body hygiene, and exercising or following a specific diet for the specific purpose of improving ones physical attractiveness, are universal. Indeed, 99% of participants reported spending >10 min a day performing beauty-enhancing behaviors. The results largely support evolutionary hypotheses: more time was spent enhancing beauty by women (almost 4 h a day, on average) than by men (3.6 h a day), by the youngest participants (and contrary to predictions, also the oldest), by those with a relatively more severe history of infectious diseases, and by participants currently dating compared to those in established relationships. The strongest predictor of attractiveness-enhancing behaviors was social media usage. Other predictors, in order of effect size, included adhering to traditional gender roles, residing in countries with less gender equality, considering oneself as highly attractive or, conversely, highly unattractive, TV watching time, higher socioeconomic status, right-wing political beliefs, a lower level of education, and personal individualistic attitudes. This study provides novel insight into universal beauty-enhancing behaviors by unifying evolutionary theory with several other complementary perspectives.

• Ares, Gastón; Antúnez, Lucía; León, Carolina de; Alcaire, Florencia; Vidal, Leticia & Natero, Virginia [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2022). ‘Even if you don't pay attention to it, you know it's there’: A qualitative exploration of adolescents' experiences with digital food marketing. Appetite. ISSN 0195-6663. 176. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106128. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to digital food marketing. However, research on adolescents’ recall, awareness, and opinions of this type of marketing is still scarce. Accordingly, the present study aimed to conduct an in-depth examination of adolescents’ experiences with digital food marketing. A convenience sample of 209 adolescents was recruited at two private educational institutions and a public health facility in Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted, recorded in audio and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed using content analysis based on a deductive-inductive approach. Results showed that participants were highly exposed to digital food marketing, as they all remembered having seen adver- tisements, with those of fast-food restaurants and food-ordering apps being the most frequently mentioned. According to the adolescents’ accounts, images, colors, music, oversized portions, product novelty, price pro- motions and celebrities were the most memorable aspects of food advertisements. Participants recognized the effect of advertisements on product awareness and wanting, and, to a lesser extent, on actual purchase and consumption behavior. Factors that were thought to mediate the impact of digital marketing on food choice were also identified. In the final part of the interviews, participants proposed strategies to reduce the effect of digital marketing on their food choices, which included both regulatory approaches to reduce exposure to digital marketing of unhealthy foods and behavior change communication. Together, the current findings provide in- sights for the development of multifaceted strategies to reduce the effects of digital food marketing on the eating habits of adolescents.

• Otterbring, Anders Emil Tobias; Elbæk, Christian T. & Lu, Chaoren (2022). Can Digit Ratio and Gender Identity Predict Preferences for Consumption Options With a Distinct Gender Image? Frontiers in Psychology. 13. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.923709. Full text in Research Archive
• Elbæk, Christian T.; Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Aarøe, Lene & Otterbring, Anders Emil Tobias (2022). Honestly hungry: Acute hunger does not increase unethical economic behaviour. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. ISSN 0022-1031. 101. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2022.104312. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Acute hunger leads to self-protective behaviour, where people keep resources to themselves. However, little is known about whether acute hunger influences individuals' inclination to engage in unethical behaviour for direct monetary gains. Past research in moral psychology has found that people are less likely to cheat for monetary than non-monetary gains. Integrating research on scarcity into the study of unethical economic behaviour, we predicted that acute hunger increases cheating for monetary gains. We further predicted that this effect is moderated by childhood socioeconomic status, trait self-control, and moral identity. We tested these predictions in a well-powered laboratory experiment where we manipulated acute physiological hunger as indexed by blood glucose levels and obtained a validated behavioural measure of cheating for direct monetary gains. Contrary to our predictions, our results show that acute physiological hunger as indexed by blood glucose levels does not increase (or decrease) the propensity to engage in unethical economic behaviour and that neither childhood socioeconomic status nor trait self-control or moral identity moderate this relationship. These findings advance scientific understanding of whether experiences of scarcity shape moral judgment and decision-making.

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• Otterbring, Tobias (2025). Er det en fordel å være pen? – Kan ikke utelukke at utseendet har betydning. [Journal]. Aftenposten. doi: https:/www.aftenposten.no/psykisk-helse-og-psykologi/i/zAmezw/er-det-en-fordel-aa-vaere-pen-kan-ikke-utelukke-at-utseendet-har-betydning. Full text in Research Archive
• Gómez-Corona, Carlos & Otterbring, Tobias (2025). Underrepresented populations in sensory and consumer science. Food Quality and Preference. ISSN 0950-3293. doi: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105455. Full text in Research Archive
• Nyhus, Ellen K. & Otterbring, Tobias (2025). Den atferdsøkonomiske revolusjonen. Magma forskning og viten. ISSN 1500-0788. 28(2), p. 62–64. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias; Finkelstein, Stacey & Folwarczny, Michal (2024). Editorial: Breakfast around the globe: habits, effects, and novel food for thought. Frontiers in Nutrition. 11. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1485384. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias & Nyhus, Ellen K. (2024). Young and Yearning for Crypto: Age Differences in Consumers’ Crypto Investment Intentions and the Roles of Risk Preference and Financial Satisfaction. Full text in Research Archive
• Frank, Darius Aurel; Otterbring, Tobias; Krol, Michal Krzysztof & Nyhus, Ellen K. (2024). A systematic literature review linking consumer adoption of cryptocurrencies to gender, personality traits, and overconfidence. In Strong, Carolyn; Martin, Brett & Chrysochou, Polymeros (Ed.), Advances in block-chain research and cryptocurrency behaviour. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9783110995596. Full text in Research Archive
• Nyhus, Ellen K.; Otterbring, Tobias & Musau, Andrew (2024). "I Don't Know": The role of personality and financial self-efficacy for the tendency to answer "Don't Know" to financial knowledge questions. Full text in Research Archive
• Kowal, Marta; Sorokowski, Piotr; Dinić, Bojana M.; Pisanski, Katarzyna; Gjoneska, Biljana & Frederick, David A. [Show all 87 contributors for this article] (2023). Correction to: Validation of the Short Version (TLS-15) of the Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45) Across 37 Languages (Archives of Sexual Behavior, (2023), 10.1007/s10508-023-02702-7). Archives of Sexual Behavior. ISSN 0004-0002. doi: 10.1007/s10508-023-02751-y. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias; Viglia, Giampaolo; Grazzini, Laura & Das, Gopal (2023). Guest editorial: Favoring fieldwork makes marketing more meaningful. European Journal of Marketing. ISSN 0309-0566. 57(7), p. 1793–1803. doi: 10.1108/EJM-07-2023-987. Full text in Research Archive
• Vikjord, Sigrid Anna Aalberg; Otterbring, Tobias & Korsvoll, Nils Hallvard (2023). Hvorfor får vi godteri bare på lørdager? Morgenbladet. ISSN 0805-3847. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias; Gasiorowska, Agata & Folwarczny, Michał (2023). Editorial: Impression management strategies and environmental cues as focal factors in food research. Frontiers in Nutrition. 10. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1254856. Full text in Research Archive
• Elbæk, Christian T.; Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Aarøe, Lene & Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Author Correction: Subjective socioeconomic status and income inequality are associated with self-reported morality across 67 countries (Nature Communications, (2023), 14, 1, (5453), 10.1038/s41467-023-41007-0). Nature Communications. 14(1). doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-44402-9. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Kontorets kakofoni. [Journal]. Weekendavisen. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Gender and personality traits influence cryptocurrency investment decisions. [Internet]. PsyPost.org. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Tobias (2023). Studietips: Derfor er symboler enklere å huske enn ord. [Internet]. Forskning.no. Full text in Research Archive
• Otterbring, Anders Emil Tobias; Vikjord, Sigrid Anna Aalberg & Solheim, Marte Cecilie Wilhelmsen (2022). Hva er den beste julesangen? Full text in Research Archive
• Bavel, Jay J. Van; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Capraro, Valerio; Sjåstad, Hallgeir; Nezlek, John B. & Pavlović, Tomislav [Show all 257 contributors for this article] (2022). Author Correction: National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic (Nature Communications, (2022), 13, 1, (517), 10.1038/s41467-021-27668-9). Nature Communications. 13(1). doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29658-x. Full text in Research Archive

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