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Process Dominates Content in Judgments of Food Or Water Acceptability and Naturalness

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Process Dominates Content in Judgments of Food Or Water Acceptability and Naturalness Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 1, No. 2, November 2006, pp. 91–97 Naturalness judgments by lay Americans: Process dominates content in judgments of food or water acceptability and naturalness Paul Rozin∗ University of Pennsylvania Abstract This study directly tests the hypothesis that, at least within the domains of food and drink for Americans, the judgment of naturalness has more to do with the history of an object, that is the processes that it has undergone, as opposed to its material content. Individuals rate the naturalness and acceptability of a natural entity (water or tomato paste), that same entity with a first transformation in which a natural substance is added (or some part removed), and then a second transformation in which the natural additive is removed (or the removed part is replaced). The twice transformed entity is stipulated to be identical to the original natural entity, yet it is rated much less natural and less acceptable. It differs from the original entity only in its history (the reversed processes it has experienced). The twice transformed entity is also rated as less natural than the once-transformed entity, even though the former is identical to the original natural entity, and the latter is not. Therefore, naturalness depends heavily on the process-history of an entity. Keywords: natural, genetic engineering, process, content, preference. 1 Introduction chometric studies on the attributes of varied technologies confirm that a two-dimensional description of familiar- “Natural” is an attribute that seems to generally improve ity and dread account for much of the variation in re- the perception of the entity to which it is applied. This sponse to food risks (e.g., Fife-Schaw & Rowe, 1996, may be a manifestation of what Kellert and Wilson have 2000), and there are indications that some of the oppo- described as “biophilia,” an innate desire for the experi- sition to technologies are based on fundamental concerns ence of the human ancestral environment (Wilson, 1984; about the propriety and dangers of tampering with nature Kellert & Wilson, 1993). (e.g., Slovic, 1987; Frewer et al., 2004; Bredhal, 1999; Natural foods are generally considered more desirable, Sparks & Shepherd, 1994). The focus of the literature and worth more, than corresponding “non-natural”, “ar- has been on public assessment of health risks, and in this tificial” or “processed” alternatives (Rozin et al., 2004). regard, there has been appropriate concern for the value This is perhaps most obvious in the food domain, but nat- of education of the public and involvement of the public ural preference extends to other entities, including fab- in decision making, and understanding reasons for public rics, medicines (in some cases), and environments. distrust of relevant government and industry statements The appeal of “natural” may be universal or almost uni- and regulations (Frewer et al., 2004). There has also been versal, in some domains. There is direct evidence for its interest in identifying public attitudes to technology and appeal in Western cultures in the food domain. For ex- more broadly, the natural world, that might predict which ample, in five European countries and the United States, individuals are most opposed to modification of foods free associations to the word “natural” are almost entirely (Kellert, 1997; Siegrist, 1999). positive (Rozin, Fischler, & Shields-Argeles, 2006). There are two types of justifications for “natural pref- There has been some attention to matters related to erence”: instrumental and ideational (Rozin et al., 2004). “natural” in the psychology and risk literatures. Much Instrumental reasons refer to specific advantages of natu- of this has been motivated by opposition to genetic en- ral entities: they are more attractive/appealing, healthier, gineering, particularly of foods. Naturalness, or percep- and/or kinder to the environment. It is this type of jus- tion of naturalness, has been identified in a number of tification that has been the focus of most past research. lines of research, much of it based on the framings of risk Ideational reasons come down to the claim that natural and toxins provided by Slovic (e.g., Slovic, 1987). Psy- is inherently better, in moral and/or aesthetic senses. We have found that although Americans usually justify their ∗Thanks to Brandon Cavanagh for assistance in data collection. Ad- dress: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3720 natural preference in instrumental terms, when these are Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19104-6241, [email protected] neutralized (for example, by the claim that for a partic- 91 Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 1, No. 2, November 2006 Naturalness judgments 92 ular comparison, the natural and non-natural entities are alone were approached and asked to complete a short chemically identical), natural preference usually remains (two sides of one page) anonymous questionnaire. Com- substantially intact (Rozin et al., 2004). When chal- pletion of the questionnaire took five to ten minutes for lenged on their instrumental accounts, many informants most respondents. One of two questionnaires was of- acknowledge that natural is “just better.” fered to each person. The “Water” questionnaire was An analysis of the properties of the concept “natu- completed by 97 individuals (57 male), with a mean age ral” for lay Americans suggests that naturalness is rela- of 33.1 years (range 18-80 years). The “tomato paste” tively uncompromised by mixing of like natural entities, questionnaire was completed by 99 individuals (43 male), or changes in physical state (such as freezing or crush- with a mean age of 31.3 years (range 16-76 years). All ing) (Rozin, 2005). On the other hand, changes in sub- but 5 of 196 participants had completed high school. stance, as by boiling or additions or subtractions of en- tities changes naturalness substantially. When something 2.2 Questionnaires is added to (or subtracted from) a natural entity, the viola- tion of its naturalness could result from the change in ma- The questionnaire was kept very brief so the disturbance terial substance, and/or the process of intervention. There to the participants would be minimal, and because most are suggestions that process may be more important than participants were waiting for trains. The present data change in content. Domestication, which involves ma- were part of two separate questionnaires. The principal jor changes in substance, violates naturalness less than aim of both questionnaires was understanding of reasons the trivial substantial change of replacing a single gene for rejection of recycled water. Both had the same set with another. For example, a cocker spaniel is rated as of demographic questions, and information about water only modestly less natural than a wolf, whereas a single drinking habits and reactions to different types of water. gene insertion (replacement) in a variety of species has One included, along with other questions about water, the a massive effect on naturalness (Rozin, 2005). The gene items relevant to this study on water processed in various replacement, a process that involves “direct” manipula- ways. The other questionnaire included other questions tion of the genome but minimal substantial change, has about water, and the items about tomato paste described a much more destructive effect on naturalness than ex- below. tensive selective breeding, which produces a much larger In the water form, participants rated acceptability (“0 = change in both appearance and the genome. not acceptable under any conditions to 100 = completely The idea that process is more important than content in acceptable”) and naturalness (“0 = not natural at all [like judgments of naturalness needs further evidence and ex- a plastic toy model of a car] to 100 = completely natural plication. The ideal comparison (not carried out in previ- [like a tree growing on a mountain peak that has never ous research) involves changes that only involve process, been visited by humans]”) of six types of water, in two or only content. Although it is not possible to imagine a sets of three. The precise descriptions of the waters, in the change in content that is human-induced, but does not in- sequence presented, are indicated in Table 1. The first set volve a process, it is possible to imagine action of human- involved rating of natural water with minerals, removal caused processes, but with no change in substance. This of minerals, and their replacement. The second set in- is accomplished if something (natural or unnatural) is volved rating of natural water with no minerals, addition added to a “natural” entity, and then that same additive is of natural minerals, and then their removal. In addition, removed, leaving the twice processed entity chemically participants made similarity judgments on the same two identical to its natural origin form. The same can be ac- sets of triads. The instructions read as follows: complished by removal of something from a natural en- tity, and then having this subtracted entity replaced. You will be presented with sets of THREE In this study, we explore judgments of naturalness, items. In each case, you are to circle the TWO similarity, and acceptability of water and one food ex- items that are MOST similar in your opinion. emplar (tomato paste) which undergo this set of double For example: manipulations (addition then subtraction, or subtraction and then addition). a. car b. bus 2 Method c. tomato 2.1 Participants a. spoon b. house The participants were adults waiting at the main Philadel- phia train station (30th Street). Individuals who were c. fork Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 1, No. 2, November 2006 Naturalness judgments 93 a. pure water from a natural spring contain- 100 ing no minerals 90 80 b. same as a. but with .1% natural minerals 70 added 60 original 50 subtract or add c. same as a. but with .1% natural minerals 40 Reverse added and then removed 30 Mean acceptance 20 10 a.
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