Those on diet better avoid buffets, for a new study has shown that people tend to underestimate how much of each item is present when faced with a large variety of items. Joseph P.Redden of the University of Minnesota and Stephen J.Hoch of the University of Pennsylvania came to this conclusion after studying consumers’ perceptions of quantity in a set of requirements.
Their aim was to determine how quantity perceptions influence portion sizes.
“Does a bowl with both red blue candles seem to have more or less than a bowl with only one color candy?” the researchers asked.
“Contrary to popular belief, the presence of variety actually makes it seem like there are fewer items”, they added.
The team first exposed participants to images of colored dots and geometric shapes.
“When items differ, people tend to focus on one type or the other, and find it difficult to merge the multiple types into a whole. However, a set composed of only identical items makes it easy for people to perceive the items as a single, unified whole,” the authors wrote.
According to them, focusing on the larger whole makes a set appear to occupy more space.
“Since people rely on spatial area as a cue for quantity, a set appears to have more items when they are all identical,” they said.
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