EPISODE · Jun 17, 2025 · 18 MIN
#14 Why We Fear Ugly Fruit—And How to Unlearn It, with Carina Castagna
from R&D Unplugged · host Learning Planet Institute
Why do we reject fruits and vegetables just because they look imperfect? Let's explore the invisible biases in our brains that drive food waste—and how learning can help shift them.Drawing from six psychological experiments and a neuroscience study using eye-tracking, Carina Castagna shares how aesthetic imperfections trigger risk aversion in the brain’s more primitive regions, leading to the unnecessary disposal of edible produce. But there’s a powerful insight: when people are encouraged to think abstractly, this wasteful bias drops significantly. What does it means for education, behavior change, and sustainability transitions? The talk offers practical implications for teaching sustainability and reframing how young people—and adults—learn to care about food and waste.
What this episode covers
Why do we reject fruits and vegetables just because they look imperfect? Let's explore the invisible biases in our brains that drive food waste—and how learning can help shift them. Drawing from six psychological experiments and a neuroscience study using eye-tracking, Carina Castagna shares how aesthetic imperfections trigger risk aversion in the brain’s more primitive regions, leading to the unnecessary disposal of edible produce. But there’s a powerful insight: when people are encouraged to think abstractly, this wasteful bias drops significantly. What does it means for education, behavior change, and sustainability transitions? The talk offers practical implications for teaching sustainability and reframing how young people—and adults—learn to care about food and waste.
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#14 Why We Fear Ugly Fruit—And How to Unlearn It, with Carina Castagna
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