Watching someone else eat and visibly show a dislike for vegetables might influence your own preferences, a study suggests.

Researchers from Aston University investigated whether the facial expressions of a person eating something had an impact on the onlooker.

They found watching others visibly dislike vegetables can make onlookers dislike them too.

Lead author Dr Katie Edwards said: “We show that watching others eating a raw vegetable with a negative facial expression reduces adult women’s liking of that vegetable, but not their desire to eat it.

“This highlights the power of observing food dislike on adults’ eating behaviour.”

The findings might also apply to children, the researchers suggested.

Dr Edwards said: “If a child sees their parent showing disgust while eating vegetables, this could have negative consequences on children’s vegetable acceptance.”

In the study, more than 200 women aged 18-30 watched video clips of other adults eating raw broccoli.

While eating, the models displayed positive (smiling), neutral, or negative (disgust-like) facial expressions.

Previous research has shown behaviours are more likely to be imitated if a positive reaction is seen, while the reverse is true if negative outcomes are witnessed.

However, in the new study – published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology – this correlation was only partially observed.

Those who watched clips where the model displayed a negative facial expression saw a greater reduction in liking ratings, but there was no change in their desire to eat the raw green themselves.

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“Watching others eating a raw vegetable with a positive facial expression did not increase adults’ vegetable liking or eating desire,” Dr Edwards added.

Researchers added future studies would examine the effect of watching live food enjoyment on people’s eating behaviours – rather than video clips.

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