I don’t like it because it eats Brussels sprouts

Cartoon characters can become more or less appealing to children depending on whether they are eating something that children like or dislike. This suggests that children can learn to like and dislike simply by association with other things that they already like or dislike.

This is the finding of a study by Dr Andy Field from the University of Sussex, presented on Saturday 15 March 2002, at the British Psychological Society Annual Conference in Bournemouth.

Previous research has shown that adults' preferences can be changed through this technique of associative learning; however these effects had not been studied in children until now.

Dr Field showed 37 children aged from 9 to11 pictures of cartoon characters called 'Futuremons'. The children then ranked the characters in order of preference. Two Futuremons were regarded as 'neutral'; one was paired with a picture of ice cream and the other a picture of Brussels sprouts. After several of these pairings the children re-ranked the characters.

The results show that ratings increased significantly for the Futuremon paired with the popular food, the ice cream, whilst the ranking of the Futuremon paired with the unpopular food, the Brussels sprouts, decreased considerably. These findings persisted after the children re-ranked the characters for a third time after being shown the Futuremons without any food.