Healthy for You and Tasty for Me: Social Distance Increases the Relative Importance of Health Attribute in Food Choice

ABSTRACT Much of what consumers eat is selected by other people, making it essential to understand how individuals make food choices for others. This research addresses the gap by applying construal level theory, proposing that as the social distance between the food decision‐maker and the recipient increases, consumers prioritize health attributes (abstract construal level attribute) over taste attributes (concrete construal level attribute) of food. Eight experiments in both laboratory and real dining settings demonstrate that greater recipient distance shifts focus toward higher‐construal attributes, such as health, resulting in healthier choices, while reduced distance shifts attention toward taste attributes, leading to tastier selections. These findings broaden our understanding of food choice, extending the perspective from self decision‐making to agent decision‐making , uncovering the psychological processes involved in choosing food for oneself versus for others. Marketers and policymakers can apply these insights to encourage healthier food choice by designing situations that promote food choices for others.