Willingness to try new foods as predicted by social representations and attitude and trait scales.

The structure and predictive ability of social representation of new foods were investigated and compared with instruments measuring relevant attitudes and traits using a questionnaire quantifying these aspects, completed by 743 respondents. Based on their rated willingness to try, new foods were categorized as modified dairy products, genetically modified (GM), organic, and ethnic products (two examples, snails and passion fruit, were treated separately). The social representation (SR) consisted of five dimensions: suspicion of novelties, adherence to technology, adherence to natural food, eating as an enjoyment, and eating as a necessity. The SR dimensions were strong predictors of willingness to try GM foods (predicted by adherence to technology) and organic foods (predicted by adherence to natural foods). Low food neophobia predicted the rated willingness to try snails and passion fruit. Thus, different constructs predicted willingness to try different categories of new foods, and as a whole, SR dimensions markedly improved the prediction.

Dimensions of novelty: a social representation approach to new foods.

Social representations of new foods were examined with a total of 44 subjects in nine focus groups. Each group was homogenous, defined by age, gender and educational background. Halfway through the interview, commercial packages of functional, genetically modified, organic, nutritionally modified and ethnic foods were presented as visual stimuli for discussion. Thematic and content analyses of the interview data showed that five dichotomies characterized the social representation: trust/distrust, safe/unsafe, natural/artificial, pleasure/necessity, and past/present. Many metaphors were used, with functional products being associated metaphorically with, for example, medicine and genetically modified products being associated with death and terrorism. Chronological references focused on the development of cuisine. The perceived unsafety of new foods was an important argument for women but not for men. The difference between age groups was in relating the discussion to either present time (young subjects) or past time (older subjects). Level of education affected the content of argumentation. In the context of new foods, social representations are formed to cope with the feeling of strangeness evoked by the novelties. They also have a role in cultural acceptance of new products by making them familiar. Overall, the results reflect the development of a new common sense in which popularized scientific notions are anchored in the process of urbanization.

Toward an understanding of laypeople's notions about additives in food: clear-cut viewpoints about additives decrease with education.

The focus of this article is on laypeople's notions about additives in food. A dilemma embodying the basic controversial standpoints on additives was given in interviews with 145 young and middle-aged adults representing different educational levels and fields during the years 1986-1988. The least and most educated subjects were interviewed again during 1993-1994 (N = 62). Interviewee standpoints and their justifications for them were probed in semi-structured interviews. The emergent attitudes could be located in four categories: Harmful, Safe, Both and Neither. There was a general movement from the clear-cut Harmful and Safe to Both and Neither, a trend which was not brought about by the selective sampling of interviewees for the follow-up study. In general, the more education the respondents had, the more often they expressed the standpoints Both and Neither and vice versa. Further education seems to soften the expression of straight for-or-against standpoints, as well as most misunderstandings about additives. Higher education helps people not only to simultaneously hold contradicting perspectives in mind, but also to analyse and integrate these perspectives, which is quite necessary in understanding open questions and in coping with insecurity in a modern society.