Does “Yummy” Food Help You Grow and Avoid Illness? Children's and Adults' Understanding of the Effect of Psychobiological Labels on Growth and Illness

Abstract

Three studies examined children's understanding of the role of psychobiological labels such as tasty (“yummy”) and not tasty (“yucky”) foods on growth and illness. Studies 1 and 3 examined the role of tasty and not tasty foods on height, weight, and illness, respectively. Study 2 controlled for the possibility that participants were responding to the positive and negative valence of the terms “yummy” and “yucky” in Study 1. Results revealed that young children entertain psychobiological causes for growth but not for illness. These results suggest that young children selectively apply psychobiological causes to explain different biological processes.