Eating behaviour Flashcards
What are the two factors influencing attitudes to food and eating behaviour?
Culture and mood.
What are the two theories behind cultural food preferences?
Social Learning Theory
Mere Exposure Effect
How is social learning theory linked to having cultural food preferences?
We adopt food preferences through observation and imitation of our role models in our culture. Children are positively reinforced for eating foods that are appropriate to their culture e.g. being allowed dessert if eaten all their dessert.
Likely to be punished if eaten something that is deemed inappropriate to their culture, e.g. snacking on insects - seen as appropriate in other cultures.
This process is entirely down to the childrens role model which is usually the parents.
How is the mere exposure effect linked to having cultural food preferences?
Theory is that we begin to like food by being exposed to it more often as different cultures have different traditional foods that they are exposed to all the time and when given the choice of an familiar food and an unfamiliar food you are more likely to choose the familiar food as you’ve been exposed to it more. This effect is most marked in children who show a neophobic (negative) response to new foods.
It’s shown that the number of exposures to a new food decreases with every new food added.
What is a supporting study by Birch and Marlin (1982) that supports the mere exposure effect?
Used children aged 2 and introduced them to novel cheese and fruit over 26 days and each new food was presented either 20,15,10,5 or 0 times. When the children were later given a choice to what food they would like they found they chose the more familiar food.. Supports idea that the more exposed to food the more we like it and this links to food being traditional in cultures.
What is a supporting study by Williams et al (1980) that the number of exposures needed to get used to a new food decreases?
Looked at 6 children who were fussy eaters.
One was an autistic girl who only ate hot dogs, peanut butter, toast, bacon, eggs and chocolate. To treat her they gave her three tablespoons of three novel foods each meal time (49 in total). The first novel food took 27 exposures for her to accept it but the fifth novel food only took 10 exposures. After the treatment the girl was still eating 47/49 of the novel foods. Supports idea that the more exposed the more we are quicker to accept and linked to culture we can consider how common some foods are to others
What is a supporting study of both SLT and the mere exposure effect by Birch et al (1980)?
Sat children next to each other at lunch who preferred a different vegetable to themselves (peas v carrots) for four consecutive days. Found that by the end of the study the Children’s preference was shifted.
Supports SLT as children imitated their role model and mere exposure because they have been exposed to the new food more. In our day to day life we see role models in our culture eat the food linked to our culture.
What is a study by Lowe et al (1998) that attempted to uncover whether SLT or mere exposure is more important in food preference process?
Group of 5-6 year olds who were fussy eaters who ate little fruit and veg. Children were exposed to one of four conditions.
1. Exposure to fruit and veg (seeing more of them)
2. Positive reinforcement following fruit and veg
3. Exposure to role models (food dudes) eating fruit and veg.
4. Exposure to role models and positive reinforcement.
Measured how much fruit and veg they ate as success, found condition 4 was most successful and 1 was least.
Shows more support for social learning theory as idea that we eat the foods linked to our culture as we see our role models eating them and are motivated by role models giving us positive reinforcement.
What are two limitations of the cultural theories for food preference?
- Deterministic- suggests it is inevitable that we like food we are exposed to regularly and food we are positively reinforced for eating- not the case as people still don’t like broccoli even though they were reinforced as a child.
- Takes the nurture side - only due to culture but biological reasons also such as evolutionary past.
What is the factors influencing attitudes to food and eating behaviour linked to mood?
Mood impacts the way we eat as we overeat when comfort eating and we eat less when we are stressed.
Evidence to show that carbohydrates are craved and consumed in order to make us feel good.
An amino acid called tryptophan is the building block for serotonin which makes us happy. Protein rich foods contain tryptophan.
These foods also contain other competing amino acids which compete with tryptophan to cross the blood-brain barrier. However carbohydrates contain insulin which can slow down other competing amino acids meaning that carbs allow tryptophan to cross and facilitate giving a better mood. Means we view carbs mores positively when in a low mood.
What is a supporting study by Brinkworth et al (2009) that supports the idea that carbohydrates improve our mood?
Followed 106 dieters for a year, obese and overweight with an average age of 50. Allocated to two conditions: 1. High carb and low fat diet
2. Low carb and high fat diet
Both diets didn’t contribute to weight loss but the low carb diet was found to show signs of more depression, hostility and anger.
Supports that carbohydrates improve our moods
What is a refuting study by McClernon et al (2007) that carbohydrates improve our mood?
Used 119 volunteers and assigned them to either a low carb diet or a low fat diet. Found most participants found improvement in areas such as depression. Goes against the theory and implies that carbohydrates have no impact on mood. Could be considered that participants felt better about losing weight which improved their moods.
What is a limitation of mood being a factor influencing attitudes to food?
Takes the nature side- takes biological explanation for preference to carbohydrates when could be environmental reasons such as mere exposure to carbs
What are the two explanations for the success and failure of dieting?
Restraint theories
Denial theory
What is the restraint theory conducted by Herman and Polivy (1980)?
Argue that dieting and bingeing are linked. People who restrict their diets are more likely to consume more when given the chance and start to eat more to feel full. Therefore they end up consuming more calories than those who are not dieting.
What is the boundary model linked to the restraint theory?
Developed the ideas into the boundary model which is that a dieter will be able to stick to their plan if they feel they are not going to break the rules. Once they feel that the rules have been broken (the boundary crossed) instead of stopping they carry on eating until feeling satisfied. E.g. dieter has a biscuit but then eats the whole pack instead of just the one they were going to eat.
What is the cognitive element by Wardle and Ogden (1991) linked to the restraint theory?
Argues that giving in once the boundary has been crossed is not a passive process but an act of rebellion. Dieter’s feelings after breaking the boundary feel like ‘I don’t care about the diet anymore’ and ‘I’m going to stuff my face’
What is a supporting study of the restraint theories by Wardle and Beales (1988)?
Assigned 27 obese women to one of three conditions for a seven week period of time
1. Dieting condition (restricted eaters)
2. Exercise condition
3. Control condition
At weeks 4 and 6 they were given a preload (small amount of food) and then told they could have as much of the other foods as they liked. Found the dieters ate more when given this opportunity.
Supports the idea that if a diet is restricted then overeating is more likely when presented with food. Implication is dieters should plan days carefully to avoid situations that would encourage them to indulge.
How does the restraint theory link to the success and failure of dieting?
According to this theory diets fail when meals are skipped or dieters are expected to eat few too calories . Diet will be successful when the dieter is allowed to eat little and often when the number of calories per day is a reasonable amount.
What is a supporting study of the restraint theory by Herman and Mack (1975)?
Gave both dieters and non dieters either a high calorie preload (milkshake or chocolate bar) or a low calorie preload (water or cracker) and then told them they were required to taste test a number of foods for different qualities. How much of these foods they ate to make the decision was up to them.
The dieters ate more following the high calorie preload but less than the non dieters following the low calorie preload. Results are consistent with boundary model as when the dieters had the low calorie preload they did not feel as though they had crossed their boundary and so didn’t overindulge. When they had eaten the high calorie they had thought blow it and overindulged as they had crossed their boundaries.
Diet is likely to fail if high calorie snacks are in the house.
What is a limitation of the restraint theory?
Deterministic as it says that it is inevitable that a dieter will overeat when given the opportunity or given a high calorie preload. Depends on the character of the person if the restricted diet will fail or not.
What is the basic idea of the denial theory?
Works on the principle that we want what we can’t have and diet involves cutting out foods which leads to us trying to avoid the forbidden food and making us want it more which leads to the diet being broken. This makes us think about it more and is known as the rebound effect.
What is Wegner’s two process theory linked to the denial theory?
Called his idea the theory of ironic processes of mental control. Summed up by saying that we think about the things we try not to, more. Says it happens in two processes when we tell ourselves we are not allowed a certain item.
- Goes about setting up an acceptable state of mind, as this is a forced process it feels a lot of effort and why denial fails.
- Person sets up an automatic monitoring process which is primed to search for evidence of the forbidden thoughts, as the mind is actively looking we are more likely to find those thoughts and why we think about the things we are trying to avoid.
How is the denial theory linked to the success and failure of dieting?
According to this theory a diet is likely to fail if it involves cutting out whole food groups or types. This would mean a diet like the Atkins which cuts out carbohydrates is likely to fail. Other diets such as weight watchers which allow all foods to be eaten in moderation are more likely to be successful.
What is a supporting study of the denial theory by Erskine and Georgiou (2010)?
Split 116 female participants into three groups
1st group were told not to think about chocolate
2nd group were told to think about chocolate
3rd group were allowed to think of anything they wished
Then given a task where they rated two brands of chocolate on several taste characteristics whilst unaware that there researchers were measuring how much chocolate they were tasting. In line with the denial theory they found that group one ate significantly more than the other groups. Shows that thought suppression has a direct effect on behaviour. Shows denying thoughts will make us give in and consume the food. Diet will fail if foods are forbidden
What is a supporting study of the denial theory by Barnes and Tantleff-Dunn (2010)?
Asked 312 overweight or obese men and women a number of questions to assess their level of food though suppression, binge eating and food cravings. Found that women are more likely to engage in food thought suppression than men and this lead to binge eating and cravings for the forbidden food. Supports the negative role of denial and further support for the idea that diets which allow all foods to be eaten in moderation are likely to be more successful.
