Misperceived Social Norms and Food Choices: Co-Creating Better Food Environments with Local Communities: Studies of Pluralistic Ignorance and Collaborative Interventions in Neighbourhoods

Many people believe that their food choices are entirely voluntarily and within their own control. However, this is most of the time untrue as food choices are influenced by many different factors. One key influence is the food environment, which consists of both physical and social dimensions. Because of the physical dimension of the Western food environment, people are constantly exposed to cues that promote unhealthy and unsustainable eating, such as pervasive food marketing and the widespread availability of processed foods, influencing them to make corresponding food choices. Beyond these physical impacts, social influences play a crucial role in shaping food choices. As social beings, humans tend to mirror the behaviours of others and adopt what they perceive to be the prevailing norms. Given that unhealthy and unsustainable food consumption is common, individuals may assume these behaviours are the norm and adjust their own eating behaviour accordingly. However, this does not necessarily entail that people’s public behaviours align with their private beliefs. Many people may have healthier and more sustainable intentions than their overt behaviour suggests. The phenomenon that the majority of people mistakenly believe that others’ beliefs or behaviours are different from their own is called pluralistic ignorance. Pluralistic ignorance can cause widespread misperceptions resulting in groups of people behaving in ways that they privately do not agree with, mainly because they overestimate or underestimate that others agree with a certain social norm. Situations of pluralistic ignorance have been widely researched with regard to many topics, but not yet in the food environment regarding food choices. This dissertation investigated the presence of pluralistic ignorance regarding healthy and sustainable food choices within Dutch food environments and made attempts to correct the present misperceptions. In addition, this dissertation also delved into co-creating stakeholder led interventions to design healthier and more sustainable food environments. This dissertation provides evidence of misperceptions regarding healthy and sustainable food choices in Dutch food environments. Whereas it is unclear to what extent these misperceptions influence actual food choices, our findings suggest that pluralistic ignorance is a relevant factor in understanding food environments and systems. Unknowingly, people may privately support more healthy and sustainable environments, while they mistakenly believe that others in their surroundings do not support these views. We demonstrated that pluralistic ignorance can be corrected through brief interventions, provided the message is clearly communicated and not undermined by competing information, as seen in supermarket settings dominated by unhealthy and unsustainable food cues. Additionally, this dissertation highlights the influential role of key stakeholders in challenging unhealthy and unsustainable food environments. With the right knowledge, resources and momentum, these actors can drive meaningful change. However, for their initiatives to be effective, they require financial and practical support from municipalities. Ultimately, we conclude that interventions targeting individual’s behaviours alone are insufficient in transforming food environments. Instead, they should be integrated into broader policy strategies. Addressing pluralistic ignorance in collaboration with key stakeholders may uncover greater public support for such policies, reinforcing the need for systematic change.