EATING BEHAVIOURS Flashcards
what did Denton (1982) find about food preference
an innate preference for salt is found in many varying animal species
Overall Eval of Evolutionary expl of eating beh.
😊 Research Support – Logue,
☹ Difficulty studying neonates
☹ Problems with R.S
☹ Deterministic
☹ Research against – Drewnowski
what did Logue (1991) find about food preferences
human tongue has specific receptors for detecting sweetness.
Not the case for other tastes = non specific receptors.
Also more receptors for detecting sweetness than for any other tastes
Support for food prefernces made by observations of animals
Fondeness for sweetness can be found throughout the animal kingdom.
Animals will go to great trouble to get sweet tasting foods e.g: bear get stung by bees
What did Drewnowski et al (2001) find about taste aversion
some people are very sensitive to some bitter tastes whereas other people aren’t
What did Steiner (1977) find about food preferences
-Newborn babies showed:
-positive facial expressions after sugar placed on tongue
-Negative facial expressions in response to bitter tastes
Eval of Learning in food preferences
😊 Research Support –Meyer and Gast (2008)
😊 Research Support – Brown and Ogden
☹ Problems with both R.S - correlation
😊 Research Support – Macintyre et al (1998)
☹ Alternative Theory - Evolution
Brown and Ogden (2004) Learning eating behaviors
reported consistent correlations between parents and their children in terms of snack and food intake, eating motivation and body dissatisfaction
Problem = correlation + family study = genetics?
Macintyre et al (1998) learning preferences
found that media have a major impact on what people eat and their attitude towards food
Meyer and Gast (2008) learning preferences
surveyed 10-12 yr old boys and girls. Found significant positive correlation between peer influence and disordered eating
Problem = correlation
2(+) of Neural control of eating behaviours
LH
(+)Anna + Brobeck (1951)
Rats and cats
found that lesions to the LH lead to aphagia (undereating)
Suggest eating behaviour is controlled by the hypothalamus
(+) Lashley + Brobeck = studied rats. Lesions to VMH = overeat . Lesions to LH = undereat
3 (-) of Neural control of eating behaviours
(-) Anna + Brobeck lacks cross species validity
(-)Reductionist - more likely a combination of factors
(-) Deterministic. Determined by Neural mechanisms
(-) Alt. expl. Hormones
all eval for genetic expl of AN
think Scandinavia
(+) Holland et al (1988) Studied 45 pairs of female twins. Found a concordance rate of 56% MZ 5% DZ.
(-) Ignores environment. Not 100% MZ so must be other factors
(+) R.s Scott Van zealand- Candidate gene association study
epoxide hydrolase 2.
(-)Biologically reductionist
(-)Alt. expls = SLT. Observe + imitate people in media
(+) R.s Scott Van zealand
Candidate gene association study
sequences 152 genes suspected to be related to AN.
Discovered only one Gene to be significantly associated with AN = epoxide hydrolase 2. code for enzyme involved in cholesterol metabolism
eval hormonal expl of eating behaviours
(+)R.s Wren- Ghrelin inject = eat more
(+) Licinio - ppl can’t produce leptin. given leptin = 49% reduced food intake
(-) Reductionist
(-) Deterministic
(-) Alt expl
3(+) neural expl of AN
(+)One advantage of this theory is that it has research support. For example, Kaye et al (2005) conducted PET scans on 10 women recovering from AN and 12 healthy women in order to compare dopamine activities. They found that over activity in dopamine receptors in the basal ganglia of the women recovering from AN. This suggests that dopamine does play a role in AN, increasing the validity of the neural explanation.
(-) small sample btw
(+), there is further research support. For example, Castro-Fornieles et al (2006) found adolescent girls with AN had higher levels of HOMOVANILLIC ACID (a waste product of dopamine). This suggests that dopamine, thus neurotransmitters do play a role in AN, once again increasing the validity of this theory.
(+), this theory does hold some practical application. For example, if we know that AN is caused by neurotransmitters then we could potentially provide drugs to address these issues and treat the disorder. This means that the theory is useful.