Eating Behaviour

Question 1

Ecological Factors (Food preference)

Answer 1

The dietary hypothesis
The mental maps hypothesis
The extractive foraging hypothesis

Question 2

The dietary hypothesis

Answer 2

Our early ancestors would have eaten foods, such as leaves and fruit, which were easily available everywhere, making few demands on their primitive cognitive abilities such as memory or planning.

Question 3

The mental maps hypothesis

Answer 3

Suggests that it is the geographical range within which a primate hunts that dictates their food preferences, leading to the development of an internal mental map of space.

Question 4

The extractive foraging hypothesis

Answer 4

Suggests that food preferences developed as a result of primates, especially humans, being able to extract food from more difficult places, for instance by using tools during foraging.

Question 5

Clutton-Brock & Harvey (1980)

Answer 5

Found that brains of fruit eating primates were larger than that of a leaf eating primates, relative to their body size. This suggests support for the dietary hypothesis as it explains why their food preferences differ.

Question 6

Post-Hoc

Answer 6

Assuming a later event is called by an earlier one

Question 7

Social Factors

Answer 7

Meat was important source of protein and energy in the EEA and a relatively rare and prized commodity. Therefore, a preference for meat would have been an evolutionary advantage and is often referred to as the meat sharing hypothesis.

Question 8

EEA

Answer 8

Evolutionary Explanation Associations

Question 9

Food Neophobia

Answer 9

The term neophobia means “fear of the new” and is particularly common in the animal kingdom. Researchers such as Rozin (1976) found that rats will only ingest small amounts of new foods to make sure that there were no adverse effects.