Study on the Effect of Exposure to Death Information and Perceived Personal Control on Healthy Food Choices

Abstract

The Terror Management Health Model (TMHM) suggests that when one is exposed to death information, the individual’s defensive behavior about health will produce two results: the health behavior-oriented outcomes and the threat avoidance-oriented outcomes. Focusing on food choice, this paper examined the interaction effect of exposure to death information and perceived personal control on the choice of healthy food. The results showed that, for individuals with high perceived personal control, exposure to death information (vs.no) promotes healthy food choices. For individuals with low perceived personal control, exposure to death information (vs.no) can’t promote healthy food choices anymore.