L2: Food Psychology

Question 1

• The challenges in food selection and how we solve this (e.g., food neophobia and food aversions)
• Clinical aspects of restricting food intake
• The role of disgust in food choice
• The role of social learning and social norms in food choice
• Multiple approaches targeting the challenges in food selection
• Aims, methods, results of intervention programs aiming to increase vegetable intake / decrease meat intake

Answer 1

oke

Question 2

neophobia=

Answer 2

the unwillingness to try new things or break from routine.

Question 3

food neophobia=

Answer 3

• people vary in their willingness to try new foods
• food neophobia varies across meat and plant dimensions, which relates to disgust sensitivity, animal empathy, and masculinity
• women scored higher on meat neophobia than men, but the sexes did not differ on plant neophobia.
• only meat neophobia uniquely predicted eating a novel insect-based snack bar.

Question 4

omnivores dilemma=

Answer 4

we need calories, micronutrients and macronutrients but this comes with the risk of allergens, toxins and pathogens. disgust and learning food safety helps us navigate through this balance.

Question 5

Function of disgusted facial expressions

Answer 5

• The gape (and tongue extension): expelling mouth contents
• Nose wrinkle: retard inhalation of odors
• Upper lip raise: weaker retarding effect on odor inhalation, or no functional significance with respect to oronasal rejection

Question 6

verschil eten van vlees vs insecten

Answer 6

resources to eat insects are much lower

Question 7

elicitators of disgust voorbeeld

Answer 7

• we have an apple
• we look for cues (rotten, smell)
• we estimate the pathogen presence
• pathogen index expected to be high/low
• expected value of contact is bad/good
• nutrition state index: if i havent eaten in 3 days, i might eat it
• contact value may increase

Question 8

the garcia effect

Answer 8

• audiovisual cues are contingent on illness or shock
• rats associate illness/nausea with taste of water, but not with visual cues (light/sound)
• audiovisual stimulus and the taste paired with electric shock results in an avoidance of the audiovisual stimulus, but not the taste)

dus:
- Shock = drink sweetened water, avoid light and sound
- illness = avoid sweetened water, drink the water paired with light and sound

conclusie:
- prepared learning; we’d sooner avoid taste than visual cues
- rats associate illness with taste but not visual cues

Question 8

elicitators of disgust model

Answer 8

• pathogen cue monitoring circuitry: saliva, blood, carcasses, feces
• pathogen presence estimator
• pathogen index
• expected value of contact F (pathogens, kinship, sexual attractiveness, etc): kinship index, sexual value index, nutrition state index, other indices
• contact value index
• programmes regulating pathogen/contact avoidance

(model natekenen)

Question 8

finding food through trial and error is risky:

Answer 8

• on expedition they did not have enough food for journeys
• they saw the indigenous people eating nardoo, thought they may try it as well
• nardoo broke down an enzyme -> vitamin B deficiency -> they died because indigenous people at it in a specific way

Question 9

why do people in hot countries eat more spicy food?

Answer 9

hypothesis: spices neutralize pathogen risk

but a study showed that variation in spice use is not explained by temperature and that spice use cannot be accounted for by diversity of cultures, plants, crops or naturally occurring spices. Patterns of spice use are not consistent with an infection-mitigation mechanism, but are part of a broader association between spice, health, and poverty.

Question 10

what is the reason children often avoid greens and fruits (compared to meat and protein?)

Answer 10

greens have a bitter taste, therefore might have toxins, is more dangerous to children

Question 11

food neophobia progression

Answer 11

• appears around 2 years old
• expression decreases in late childhood/beginning adolescence
• relatively stable in adulthood

Question 12

factors influencing food neophobia

Answer 12

intrinsic influences:
- genetic
- sensory sensitivity (anticipated characteristics such as smell and structure of food, these cues can be perceived before the stimuli is tasted)
- temperament traits: emotional reactivity

extrinsic influences:
- early food experiences
- feeding practices
- social facilitation (encouraging eating)

Question 13

who model the willingness to taste

Answer 13

parents are models for food acceptance, but peers are more effective. the models should be familiar and prosocial

Question 14

encouraging eating: interventions

Answer 14

• flavor-flavor learning FFL: target food + a taste that is already liked
• flavor-nutrient learning FNL: target food + high energy density
• mere exposure ME: repeated exposure, familiarity, positive attitude

Question 15

which children tend to be more neophobic

Answer 15

children who are hypersensitive to sensory cues

Question 16

effectiveness of these interventions for encouraging eating

Answer 16

• no advantage of FFL/FNL over mere exposure
• ME is easier to implement (zelfs visual cues such as picture books, but also real food)
• explanation: learned safety that the food is not dangerous, or ease of categorization

Question 17

experiment sensory sensitivity

Answer 17

3 groepen: 1) sensory play with V/F, 2) sensory play with non-food (foam, feathers), 3) visual exposure control

• sensory play leads to familiarization
• younger children: visuals are important for food decisions

Question 18

school interventions for encouraging eating

Answer 18

• Frequent exposure that include multiple experiences, accompanied by nutrition education
• Incorporation of parental involvement
• Multicomponent interventions in school
• Involvement of external personnel (expert educators, teacher training, volunteers)
• Increasing availability for exposure and accessibility

Question 19

home interventions for encouraging eating

Answer 19

• Vegetable intake: Taste exposure interventions. But time is a reported issue.
• Fruit intake: Nutrition education interventions
• Taste exposure, especially effective when combined with tangible rewards (but: repeatedly offering a reward for eating a target vegetable might diminish a child’s liking and acceptance of that vegetable over time!!!).

(More research needed. Especially, long-term interventions ( > 12 months). Parent FV intake, parent BMI, SES indices: underreported)

Question 20

clinical side of food avoidance =

Answer 20

ARFID: avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder

• Limit in volume / variety of foods consumed
• Avoidance or restriction is not related to fears of fatness or distress about shape, size, or weight.
• Lack of interest in eating or food, sensory sensitivity, fear of aversive consequences (choking or vomiting)

Question 21

ARFID similarities with food neophobia

Answer 21

• low dietary variation (VF)
• sensory sensitivity
• food avoidance behaviours
• early life manifestation

Question 22

ARFID differences with food neophobia

Answer 22

• Cause of anxiety
• Rejection of known foods
• Longer response to exposure
• Is it a natural developmental milestone?