Altering shoppers' supermarket purchases to fit nutritional guidelines: an interactive information system.

Researchers built a kiosk inside a supermarket. Adults watched a short video about low-fat, high-fiber foods.

The kiosk printed each shopper’s receipt with red circles around high-fat items and green checks around high-fiber ones.

Each week the system set a new goal: buy fewer red circles, more green checks. A control group shopped as usual.

Shoppers who used the kiosk bought less fatty food and more fiber-rich food than the control group.

Some of the healthy choices stuck even after the kiosk was removed.

Davison et al. (1995) ran a similar test with college students learning AIDS facts. They also found that people remember more when the computer makes them type answers instead of just clicking “next.” Both studies show that interactive video beats passive watching.

Matthews et al. (1987) showed that preschoolers kept picking healthy snacks when teachers switched from every-time rewards to only occasional praise. The supermarket study used weekly goals and receipt feedback as its own kind of intermittent boost, pointing to the same rule: lighten the rewards, but keep them coming, and good choices last.

Lee et al. (2022) tried a self-help ACT book plus weekly emails for overweight adults. The book cut self-stigma, but weight barely moved. The 1991 kiosk, in contrast, changed actual shopping baskets. The difference: the kiosk gave real-time feedback at the moment of choice, while the book stayed at home.

You can borrow the kiosk’s three tricks anywhere. Use a 30-second video to teach the skill, give instant visual feedback, and set a tiny weekly goal. Try it with cafeteria choices, staff-room snacks, or group-home grocery lists. One laminated “stop-light” card taped to a cart can do the same job as the fancy 1991 computer.