Eating Behaviour

Question 1

Mood

Answer 1

• affect eating habits, which can explain abnormal eating practices
• those that are more vulnerable to stress eat more

Question 2

Mood Evaluation

Answer 2

• mixed research
• is there a difference between acute and chronic stressors
• can help explain differences in eating behaviour

Question 3

Cultural Influences

Answer 3

• different cultures have different eating practices
• transmitted to group member by reinforcement and social learning
• special days and traditions such as pancake day
• some cultures restrict certain foods

Question 4

Cultural Influences Evaluation

Answer 4

• more often just play moderating role on other variable to determine eating behaviour
• eating behaviours are now more global and less based on individual cultures

Question 5

Health Concerns

Answer 5

• more often just play moderating role on other variable to determine eating behaviour
• eating behaviours are now more global and less based on individual cultures

Question 6

Health Concerns Evaluation

Answer 6

• other factors more influential, often override intentions to eat healthy
• some individuals unsure of how to act
• if it was key factor everyone would eat healthily

Question 7

Restraint theory

Answer 7

dieters place a cognitive boundary on food intake, however this often leads to episodes of overeating

Question 8

Restraint theory evaluation

Answer 8

• research support, most diets do fail, theory doesn’t explain those that do succeed
• methodologies have little relevance to real life
• often because we focus on food when dieting, casing people to eat more.

Question 9

Other explanation of failure

Answer 9

• unsustainable targets/ unrealistic goals
• ghrelin stimulates appetite, more prevalent when dieting
• lessening of concentration

Question 10

Explanations for success

Answer 10

combination of strategies, clear realistic goals

• motivation and confidence
• incentives/ social support (weight watchers)
• rewards
• social learning theory

Question 11

Explanations for success evaluation

Answer 11

• individual differences contribute to success rate
• ethical concerns restrict research, self reports often used
• gender bias
• can lead to formation of effective diet programmes

Question 12

Neural Mechanisms

Answer 12

• Hypothalamus plays vital role in food intake, LH is the hunger centre initiating eating behaviour and the VMH is the satiety centre that proud cues a feeling of fullness
• when glucose is low, the liver signals the LH which gives rise to hunger
• when eaten food releases glucose, activating the VMH, giving rise to satiety, stopping further eating
• particular foods eaten based on numerous other factors
• theory weakened when it was discovered rats with their VMH removed were still able to become hungry

Question 13

Hormones

Answer 13

• fat hormone leptin is secreted from fat cells in the blood, signalling the hypothalamus that calorific storage is high
• when people don’t eat enough leptin levels fall, brain detects this drop and interprets it as lack of calories so gives rise to huger

Question 14

Set point theory

Answer 14

• everyone has an individual metabolic rate there body is geared to generated by calorie consumption
• when people diet leptin levels decrease causing hunger pangs
• set point for obese individual is higher than for healthy one

Question 15

Set point theory evaluation

Answer 15

LH as “feeding centre” is an over simplification
not fully understood, part of very complex eating systems
allot of animal experimentation
cognitive factors play a role
allot of lab experiments
deterministic

Question 16

Evolutionary explanation for food preference

Answer 16

• those that could find food were at an advantage

- food scarcity do high energy foods were favourable

Question 17

Sweet preferences

Answer 17

• preference for sweet food is widespread, associated with high energy and non toxic content
• therefore would have aided survival, natural selection leading to universal food preference

Question 18

Sweet preferences evaluation

Answer 18

• specific sweet receptors in tongue
• cross cultural evidence
• copper Inuit’s
• fondness for sweetness is apparent throughout all animal kingdom
• neonate studies suggest preferences, but these studies are subjective

Question 19

Salty food preference

Answer 19

• necessary for body to function
• keeps body hydrated
• animals will travel huge distances for it

Question 20

Salty food preference evaluation

Answer 20

• not born with innate preference but develops at around 4 months
• difficult to test on neonates, unethical to test in large quantities
• adaptive in EEA but can cause harm today
• wide individual level of preference, expected to be universal
• neglects nurture side of debate

Question 21

Psychodynamic Explanation of Obesity

Answer 21

• problems with unresolved conflicts occurring during childhood development through psychosexual stages
• examples include overindulgence during the oral stage where the libido is focused in the mouth
• could be caused depression or low self esteem which can also can be explained by psychodynamic means

Question 22

Psychodynamic Explanation of Obesity evaluation

Answer 22

• may be true for some people, but can’t explain everyone
• obesity rise and no parallel rise of unresolved childhood conflicts
• depression could be effect of obesity rather than cause

Question 23

Behaviourist Explanations

Answer 23

• food cues associated to natural pleasure food brings (CC)
• food used to reinforce desirable behaviour (OC)
• SLT, imitation of role models

Question 24

Behaviourist Explanations evaluation

Answer 24

• behaviourist treatments shown to be effective
• although doesn’t guarantee that the cause
• food is prime reinforce, presents many opportunities to be used as a reinforce
• can explain the varying obesity around the world
• therapies only have short term success, suggesting underlying biological and cognitive factors are more important.

Question 25

Genetic Explanation of Obesity

Answer 25

• inherited basis to obesity, some more genetically predisposed to be obese
• can be tested by seeing whether obese people share genetic similarity

Question 26

Genetic Explanation of Obesity Evaluation

Answer 26

• can’t be just genetic factors, need environment to be seen

* can’t explain the upsurge in obesity, genes haven’t changed but environmental factor such as availability of food have

Question 27

Neurological explanation of obesity

Answer 27

• hypothalamus regulates eating behaviour, therefore faulty functioning could lead to obesity
• if VMH doesn’t work then there will be no satiety response

Question 28

Neurological explanation of obesity evaluation

Answer 28

• most research is correlation, lab tests impossible on humans much done on animals
• hoped leptin injections would be effective treatment but only work for a few people

Question 29

Evolutionary Explanations of obesity

Answer 29

• selective favour for those who found food and could store it for periods of scarcity
• now food is readily available but people still have genes favouring obesity
• fatty foods preferred
• modern humans continue as if food supply is irregular and now there are food not part of the evolutionary past such as liquid calories
• thrifty gene, advantageous in times of food scarcity

Question 30

Evolutionary Explanations of Obesity evaluation

Answer 30

• idea foodstuffs not present in EEA cause obesity can be criticised on grounds obesity has risen in countries were liquid calories aren’t commonly used
• thrifty gene explains why only some people become obese and why people can eat allot and not put on weight such as the people of the Nile delta
• reductionist, ignores other factors
• deterministic