Food Neophobia

What it measures

This scale measures a person's avoidance of eating foods that are new or unfamiliar to them (neophobia is the fear of something unfamiliar or new). Pozharliev et al. (2023) used the scale, unadapted, in a study of consumer disgust toward insect-based food, with a sample gathered primarily (65%) from North America via MTurk.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=Strongly disagree, 4=Neutral, 7=Strongly agree)

Scale items

• I am constantly sampling new and different foods. (r)
• I don't trust new foods.
• If I don't know what is in a food, I won't try it.
• I like foods from different countries. (r)
• Ethnic food looks too weird to eat.
• At dinner parties, I will try a new food. (r)
• I am afraid to eat things I have never had before.
• I am very particular about the foods I will eat.
• I will eat almost anything. (r)
• I like to try new ethnic restaurants. (r)

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Not adapted — used verbatim from the original source. Alpha was .85 (Pozharliev et al. 2023, p. 159); validity was not discussed. Items 1, 4, 6, 9, and 10 are reverse-scored.

Citation

Pozharliev, Rumen, Matteo De Angelis, Dario Rossi, Richard Bagozzi, and Cesare Amatulli (2023), "I Might Try It: Marketing Actions to Reduce Consumer Disgust Toward Insect-based Food," Journal of Retailing, 99 (1), 149-167.

Keywords