Cognitive Dissonance under Food-Borne Risk: A Lab Experiment

An experiment is conducted to identify cognitive dissonance and subsequent responses in eating behaviour under food-borne risk. Results show that the existence of cognitive dissonance depends on the familiarity with the food. With common food (beef sausage), participants tend to bid a higher price, report lower risk assessment and neglect risk information, suggesting cognitive dissonance and confirmatory bias. In contrast, with less familiar food (smoked salmon), participants are more cautious. However, subjects still tend to over-justify their eating behaviour by reporting higher willingness to pay (WTP). In summary, the effectiveness of public information depends on people's initial knowledge and perception.