When does food act as a social surrogate? The interplay of need to belong and social context

Although food is often described as a 'social surrogate', that is a non-human social target, little is known about how individual differences in the need to belong interact with contexts that satisfy more or less belongingness needs to shape food intake. This experiment addressed this question by examining consumption across three contexts: a control condition (bogus taste test of three ice cream flavors), a social food condition (ice cream explicitly linked to belongingness), and a social inclusion condition (social inclusion episode prior to the social food manipulation and taste test). Moreover, as previous research has shown that effects on actual and perceived intake can differ, both were investigated in the present experiment. A total of 283 participants were randomly assigned to one of these conditions, and both perceived and actual ice cream intake were measured as dependent variables. Two separate 3 × 2 ANCOVAs were conducted, one for actual intake and one for perceived intake, with condition (control, social food, social inclusion) and need to belong (low vs. high) as between-subjects factors. Results revealed the following pattern. First, no differences between low- vs. high-need individuals in the control condition were found. Second, participants high in need to belong reported and consumed more when food was tied to belongingness, an effect that disappeared following prior social inclusion. Third, participants low in need to belong showed an increased intake after social inclusion compared to the neutral situation, but no difference between the control and social food conditions. These findings suggest that food can function as a social surrogate, but this depends on the interplay between individual differences and situational factors.