eating behaviour Flashcards
outline
explanations for food preferences- the role of learning
classical conditioning:
flavour flavour learning (liking anew food because of its association to a food we already like)
due to an innate preference for sweetness, we learn to prefer many new foods by sweetening them.
This association eventually leads to liking the new food on its own.
operant conditioning:
children are often directly reinforced by their food preferences of parents/siblings- rewards/punishment.
However, it’s been found difficult to establish preference in children using rewards, which is why classical conditioning is probably the more powerful form of food preference learning.
social influences:
SLT - modelling + vicarious reinforcement
family influences- parents are ‘gatekeepers’
peer influences- Birch (1980)- preschool lunchroom, placed next to kids with different preference- participant changed preference.
media- encounter adverts for ‘unhealthy’ foods , often with characters/themes children relate to , fun marketing
cultural influences:
Rozin (1984)- cultural influences are the single most significant predictor of food preferences
Hansen (2014)- we learn cultural ‘rules’ around family table.
cultural norms- e.g what constitutes a ‘proper meal’ - roast on Sunday
meat eating- different cultures have different attitudes- e.g France eats whole of animal, kidneys heart etc
culture and learning- associate foods we enjoy as adults to feelings of happiness growing up (classical conditioning)
culture influences food given to children and children see their cultural group enjoying these foods (vicarious reinforcement- acts as reward)
evaluate
explanations for food preferences -the role of learning
-lack of support for classical conditioning
little evidence for the role of classical conditioning
Baeyens (1996)- asked student participants to taste previously untried flavours- in experimental condition, flavours paired with sweet flavour. No differences between two groups in preferences after pairing.
Suggests that classical conditioning via flavour-flavour learning is an incomplete explanation for food preferences.
+support for SLT
Jansen and Tenney (2001)- gave children energy dense or energy dilute drink.
Most preferred energy dense drink (which teacher praised and liked)
Concluded children identified with teacher, so ere more likely to model teacher’s preference (modelling) as they were influenced by teacher’s praise and enjoyment (vicarious reinforcement)
short and long term effects
media can have powerful short term and long term effects on food preferences
Brunn (2011)- studied group of age 8-10 yr old children
Found children who watched most tv, also had the most unhealthy food preferences.
However, this link was much weaker in a follow up study of the same children 6 years later- as other factors (especially friends) influenced preferences more strongly.
outline evolutionary explanations for food preference
PREFERENCES
any preferences must exist because they provided an adaptive advantage (survive, reproduce, pass on)
sweetness - reliable sign of high energy food (in EEA source of sugar was fruit) (EEA is the environment of evolutionary adaptation- environment our species first evolved)
Steiner (1977)- placed sugar cube on newborn’s tongue, positive facial expressions- will consume large amounts of fructose if allowed because it’s ‘fast acting’
salt- desire appears around 4 months old
Harris (1990)- babies prefer salted cereal despite having (unsalted) breastmilk- suggests preference is innate
meat- fossil evidence suggests hunter-gatherers daily diet was mainly derived from animal based products - meat provided nutrients for brain growth
Milton (2008)- without animals, unlikely humans could have secured enough nutrients to survive.
TASTE AVERSION
learned response to eating poisonous/toxic food
animals avoid eating food that makes them ill as they associate them
Discovered by farmers trying to get rid of rats >rats eat a little bit> get ill > don’t eat it again
Garcia (1955)- first study of taste aversion in lab, rats made ill by radiation shortly after eating saccharin> developed an aversion
Research has found odour can also lead to illness> creates aversions
aversions would have helped ancestors survive, would know not to eat that dangerous food again once learned, aversions are hard to shift
NEOPHOBIA
reluctance to try new/unusual foods
reaction is a survival strategy as it protects from poisoning
Prescott (2013)- ‘a world of potential foods whose safety is uncertain’
specialised with specialised diet less likely to get neophobia compared to those with broad diet e.g rats
study rats became ill after familiar and unfamiliar food> would avoid unfamiliar food in future (Rozin,1977)
in humans, neophobia is dependent on culture and current diet
Dovey (2008)- humans have expectations as to what is an ‘acceptable’ food , if the criteria is not met then the food is rejected.
greater neophobia towards animal products > likely to have evolved due to the greater risk of illness/threat.
evaluate evolutionary explanations for eating behaviour
- can be maladaptive
poses problems for people who restrict their diet and don’t get sufficient nutrients
Perry (2015) - neophobia is associated with poorer diet quality among children
evolutionary evidence
evidence to suggest neophobia is an evolutionary trait and therefore part of our nature. Knaapila (2007)- measured neophobia in 468 twin pairs and found a heritibility of 67%. This suggests about 2/3rds of variation in food neophobia is genetically determined. Supports view that neophobia developed to protect humans.
RWA from taste aversion
helpful in understanding food avoidance may occur curing cancer treatment.
some treatments (e.g chemo) cause gastrointestinal illness
Bernstein and Webster (1980) - gave icecream to patients before treatment and found they acquired an aversion
- this led to the development of the ‘scapegoat technique’ - give familiar and unfamiliar food to patient so they develop aversion to unfamiliar food
