YOU ARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE: LEVERAGING IMPLICIT THEORY TO FOSTER HEALTHY BEHAVIORS

Abstract

The rising cost of healthcare remains mystifying on a global scale. Some of the main factors contributing to the exorbitant costs in healthcare are doctors' visits and hospital readmissions, many of which result from preventable diseases, such as obesity. Adoption of simple health practices, such as reducing unhealthy food consumption, could help prevent these diseases. Despite this, a considerable number of adults fail to adopt preventive behaviors. In the current research, we explore how people can be nudged toward adopting healthy practices. Specifically, drawing upon implicit theory (Dweck, Chiu, & Hong1995), we argue and show that people who have a fixed mindset (also known as entity theorists) are likely to engage in more unhealthy consumption, compared with those who have a growth mindset (also known as growth theorists). Our findings show that priming people with a growth mindset, a mindset where people perceive that people and their behaviors can change, reduces unhealthy consumption. The research presented here has significant managerial implications because it could change how we encourage and approach individuals to adopt healthier behaviors through persuasive messaging, resulting in improved health outcomes. Finally, the study results add to the current literature on implicit beliefs can impact people’s behaviors, as well as to literature on persuasive messaging.