4. Discussion and future research
Our study crossed manipulated and measured diet-consciousness
and found evidence for the partitioning paradox: consumption of more
from multiple small packages than a single large package when dietconsciousness
was manipulated (replicating DPZ's result) and measured
Fig.(replicating SNMM's result) (see Table 1). However, the effect of measured
diet-consciousness on the partitioning paradox effect was more
equivocal as in SNMM.We note that the measure of diet-consciousness
(Herman & Polivy, 1980) had low reliability, and we further note that
an interaction of measured andmanipulated diet-consciousness suggests
that the manipulation overrides lower-measured diet-consciousness to
some extent.
Combining our study with previously published studies in a metaanalysis,
we show that among the diet-conscious, partitioning leads to
higher consumption than unpartitioned portions. Importantly, among
those that are not diet-conscious, partitioning has an approximately
equally strong effect in the opposite direction, that is a single portion
leads to higher consumption than partitioned portions.
The partitioning paradox offers an effect that is both theoretically
interesting and practically important. Fruitful opportunitiesexist in a
number of directions. Measured diet-consciousness representing
the effect of a chronic or individual trait deserves further attention,
and effort should be given to fine-tuning the measure of dietconsciousness.
More effort could be directed towardswhy the effect exists
and to determining the boundary conditions that limit the operationof the partitioning paradox.