Are we more prone to fall for the ‘natural’ tag? Study reveals how this bias can harm you

Are you obsessed with organic food? (Source: Freepik)

In a bid to find shortcuts and avoid in-depth research, we

often fall for biases and stereotypical thinking because it helps us to save time and effort.

And that is exactly what a 2024 study published in the Social Psychological and Personality Science journal highlights. According to the paper, “Perceived naturalness can bias beliefs about the positivity of items such as food, human talent, and vaccines.” In other words, us human beings tend to prefer items that are labelled natural and organic compared to synthetic stuff.

Dr Srishti Saha, Consultant – Mental Health & Behavioural Sciences, at Fortis Anandapur, Kolkata explained that naturalness bias is the perception or belief that natural is always better or safer than synthetically or artificially produced things. This potentially stems from an inherent generalised thinking that is also reinforced by societal and media influences regarding the harms associated with artificial substances.

For instance, it is common understanding that fruits and vegetables could be tainted by pesticides or artificial fertilisers and from this, stems a preference for organic or local farming products. This is further strengthened by what we call as the halo effect in psychology. It is a kind of cognitive bias in which further positive assumptions are generated about naturalness, based on the initial bias that natural is good.

“While common sense would dictate that a preference for naturalness is good judgement, unfortunately anything taken to the extreme can be harmful. If a preference for natural automatically stands to mean a rejection of anything artificial or synthetic, this could pose serious hazards in certain instances,” she said.

The label “organic”, or “natural” could be used to influence consumer behaviour and justify higher costs when in reality, naturalness may not have much of a role to play in that particular product (eg., stationary items like stickers).

Excessive fear of synthetic products could lead to an avoidance of necessary, sometimes, life saving, drugs or vaccines, and opting for more “natural” remedies which may not be scientifically effective. Many were reluctant to take covid vaccine, in fear of negative effects.

The label “organic”, or “natural” could be used to influence consumer behaviour and justify higher costs of food (Source: Freepik)

How can you counter this mindset?

According to Dr Saha, the best way to mitigate any bias is through awareness and analysis. “Deeper insight into where naturalnessactually has merit, rather than attesting to a blanket assumption of its universal goodness, could help to manage this bias. Being more aware of marketing gimmicks and tactics often used by production houses may also prevent people from getting duped,” she said.

Dr Saha also advised cultivating a more rational outlook towards things rather than having an “all or none” form of thinking, can help with not just naturalness bias, but any kind of stereotypical thinking and hasty conclusions.

“Cognitive challenging or disputing our own beliefs and trying to search for evidence that supports as well as refutes the naturalness bias can help people achieve a more balanced outlook towards things. And when it comes to our own well being, we should be very careful, avoid short cuts, and instead analyse and conclude, on a case to case basis, whether naturalness provides any real advantages,” she said.

May be an image of spring greens, chard, tofu, salad and text

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