When less is more – Using scarcity to promote healthy choices in low self-control conditions

Background: While low self-control is typically seen as a vice to long-term health goals, the current research proposes that low self-control could facilitate healthy food choices given the appropriate cues in place. Specifically, we hypothesized that the tendency of individuals low in self-control to make swift and not well-considered decisions would lead them to follow a scarcity heuristic that promoted healthy food choices.

Methods: Participants (N = 67) engaged in food choice task where they chose between a healthy vs. unhealthy food over 12 food pairs, in which a scarcity heuristic (i.e., “Value of the week, while supplies last!”) promoted the healthy option in half of these food pairs. State self-control, need for cognition, and demographic variables were assessed.
Findings: Linear mixed modeling tested the effect of self-control and the scarcity heuristic on food choices. As predicted, participants low in self-control opted for more unhealthy choices when there was no scarcity heuristic, but in the presence of a scarcity heuristic made significantly more healthy choices. Results remained significant after controlling for participants’ initial extent of healthy eating, frequency of purchasing products on offer, and need for cognition.

Discussion: Contrasting the traditional perspective that low self-control leads to suboptimal health outcomes, current findings suggest that low self-control could be taken advantage of in facilitating healthy food choices with the help of scarcity heuristics. Findings offer relevant implications for health promotion, as heuristics could be easily implemented in everyday settings to work with, rather than against, low self-control in promoting healthy choices.