Psychology: Eating Behaviour

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Parental Modelling

ATTITUDES: EXPLANATIONS: SOCAIL LEARNING

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Children learn eating behaviour through vicarious reinforcement and observation of parents. Parents can have an effect as they control the food within the house. General associations have also been found.

BROWN AND OGDEN (2004) reported correlations between parents and their children in terms of body dissatisfaction and eating motivations.

BIRCH AND FISHER (2000) found that the best predictors of a daughters' eating behaviour was the mothers' dietary restraints and their perception of their daughters.

Support for social learning in peer studies as well.

MEYER AND GAST (2008) surveyed 10 to 12 year old children and found a positive correlation between peer influence and disordered eating. Likeability of peer was an important factor.

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Media Effects

ATTITUDES: EXPLANATIONS: SOCIAL LEARNING

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MACINTYRE ET AL (1998) found that media has an impact of what people eat and their attitudes to certain foods.

Researchers also state that personal circumstance, such as; age, gender and economy and the main factors. People learn about food from the media but place the information within the boundaries of their own lives.

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More than Learning

ATTITUDES: EVALUATION: SOCIAL LEARNING

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Social learning is not the sole explanation for eating behaviour. Food choices are more based on food preferences and evolutionary explanations can also be taken into account.

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Ethnicity

ATTITUDES: EXPLANATION: CULTURAL INFLUENCES

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POWELL AND KHAN (1995) found that body dissatisfaction and eating concerns are more characteristic of white women that black of Asian women.

BALL AND KENARDY (2002) studies over 14,000 women in Australia and found the acculturation effect: the longer the women stayed in Australia, the more the women reported attitudes and eating behaviour similar to women born in Australia.

HOWEVER, studies are not consistent with each other.

MUMFORD ET AL (1991) found that Asian school girls were more susceptible to bulimia than white school girls.

STRIEGEL-MOORE ET AL (1995) found more evidence for a drive for thinness among black women than white women.

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Social Class

ATTITUDES: EXPLANATIONS: CULTURAL INFLUENCES

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It has been found that higher-class individuals are more likely to suffer from eating disorders and body dissatisfaction.

DORNBUSCH ET AL (1984) surveys 7,000 American adolescents and concluded that higher-class females had a greater desire to be thin and were more likely to diet as a result.

GOODE ET AL (2008) used data from the 2003 Scottish Health Survey and established that, in general, income was positively associated with healthy eating.

Research has been conflicting.

STORY ET AL (1995) found that in a sample of American students, higher social class was related to greater body satisfaction and lower amounts of eating disorders.

Other studies have found no association.

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Cultural Differences

ATTITUDES: EXPLANATIONS: CULTURAL INFLUENCES

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ROZIN ET AL (1999) surveyed adults and college students from Belgium, France, USA and Japan. The completed a survey on food issues. All four countries showed that women were more focussed around food than men and they found substantial cultural differences. These could account for the health differences.

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Binge Eating

ATTITUDES: EXPLANATIONS: MOOD AND EATING BEHAVIOUR

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Research has shown that individuals with bulimia complain of anxiety prior to a binge.

DAVIS ET AL (1988) conducted a self monitoring study that found an hour before a binge, bulimic individuals have more negative mood states than before a snack or meal.

The same results seem to occur in people who don't suffer from eating disorders.

WEGNER ET AL (2002) had students record their eating patterns and moods for two weeks. Binge days were characterised by low mood states but there was no difference in mood after the binge - suggesting it does not alleviate negative mood.

Lots of research has suggested that low moods cause a binge but although they may be immediate gratification, there is no long term benefits or mood improvement. Therefore it is unclear as to why people binge. This defies Social Learning Theory.

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Comfort Eating

ATTITUDES: EXPLANATIONS: MOOD AND EATING BEHAVIOUR

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Comfort eating is the process of eating junk food to alleviate negative mood.

GARG ET AL (2007) observed the eating behaviour of 38 participants as they watched either a happy or sad movie. Participants were offered grapes and popcorn throughout the film. The group watching the sad film ate more popcorn that the group watching the happy group. When participants were told the nutritional information for each item of food the consumption of the unhealthy popcorn dropped.

Chocolate is considered a major comfort food.

PARKER ET AL (2006) found that although chocolate has a slight antidepressant effect for some people, when it is consumed when feeling unhappy it is more likely to prolong the negative mood rather than alleviate it, particularly if used regularly.

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Gender Bias

ATTITUDES: EVALUATION

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Most studies are conducted on females which produces a skewed view. However, studies have shown there are differences towards the attitudes of food between heterosexual men and homosexual men.

SIEVER (1994) found that homosexuality is more of a risk factor in the development of disordered eating attitudes and level of dieting. These findings have been attributed to the male gay subculture which places emphasis on a muscular body.

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Problems of Generalisability

ATTITUDES: EVALUATION

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The studies come from two separate groups: clinical and non-clinical, and it may not be possible to accurately generalise from one group to another. The studies may not offer a universal understanding.

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Restraint Theory

DIETING: EXPLANATIONS: RESTRAINT THEORY

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Restrained eating is often thought to be synonymous with dieting.

KLESGES ET AL (1987) found that as many as 89% of the female UK population consciously restrain their food intake at some point in their lives.

HERMAN AND MACK (1975) developed the restraint theory. They suggested that attempting not to eat actually increases the probability of over eating.

WARDLE AND BEALES (1988) randomly assigned 27 obese women to either a diet group, an exercise group or a non-treatment group. After 4 weeks food intake and appetite was assessed before and after a snack. At week 6 food intake was assessed under stressful conditions. Results showed that women in the diet condition ate more in both tests that the other women.

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The Boundary Model

DIETING: EXPLANATIONS: RESTRAINT THEORY

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HERMAN AND POLIVY (1984) developed the boundary model to try and explain why dieting can lead to overeating. It was suggested that we have two levels: hunger and satiety, but people on a diet impose a psychological boundary. Once they have gone over this boundary they are likely to carry on because it doesn't matter how badly they have failed, it is the fact they have failed already.

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Implications and Relevance

DIETING: EVALUATION: RESTRAINT THEORY

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Restraint theory suggests that dieting can cause overeating, but restrained eating is often used as a treatment for obesity.

HOWEVER, if restrain has failed it may cause depression which may cause overeating. It could be that overeating is a consequence of obesity and not a cause.

Restraint theory cannot be applied to restricting anorexics as they do not overeat as a response to this.

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Role of Denial

DIETING: EXPLANATION: ROLE OF DENIAL

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Cognitive psychology has found that by trying to repress a thought has the opposite effect.

WEGNER ET AL (1987) conducted the white bear experiment. Those who were told NOT to think about a white bear thought about it more.

This relates to food is that the decision to not eat certain foods often means trying not to think about them. The suppression of certain food thoughts will mean they actually think about them more and become more susceptible to succumbing to such foods.

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Ironic Processes

DIETING: EVALUATION: ROLE OF DENIAL

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SOETENS ET AL (2006) provided experimental support for this theory. He found that a restrained group of participants who often used though suppression as a dietary technique showed more of a rebound effect than other groups.

There is limited experimental effects. They are very difficult to prove and rely on personal recounts of which there is not way of checking or validating their feedback.

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Detail

DIETING: EXPLANATION: DETAILS

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REDDEN (2008) suggested that the secret to successful to dieting is paying close attention to food. By focussing on the details people are tricking themselves into thinking they are not repeating themselves and they don't become as bored as quickly.

REDDEN provided participants with jelly beans dispensed one at a time. Information was provided to the participants each time a jelly bean appeared. One group saw basic information: "bean 7" whereas another group saw: "cherry flavour bean 7". The group with the detailed information became bored less quickly than the other group.

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Ghrelin

DIETING: EXPLANATIONS: HORMONES

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CUMMINGS ET AL (2002) studied the hormone ghrelin which is produced in the stomach. They found that the levels of hormone increase when individuals are on diets which makes the people even more hungry than normal which makes weight loss more difficult. As well as this, people who have undergone stomach reduction procedures experienced less amounts of ghrelin because there was less stomach to produce it.

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Determinism

DIETING: EXPLANATIONS: GENETIC PREDISPOSITIONS

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Some genetic combinations have been found to influence weight. One gene codes for LPL, an enzyme produced by fat cells to help store calories as fat. If too much LPL is produced them too much fat will be stored.

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Other Options

DIETING: EXPLANATIONS: ANTI-DIETING PROGRAMMES

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Concerns over the negative effects of dieting have led to the development of programmes aimed at replacing dieting with healthy eating and exercise.

HIGGINS AND GRAY (1999) conducted a meta-analysis and found that participants in the programmes were associated with improvements in eating behaviour and psychological well being.

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Cultural Differences

DIETING: EVALUATION

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Research has suggested that some cultural groups find it harder to diet due to a natural inclination towards obesity.

PARK ET AL (2001) found that Asian adults are more prone to obesity that European adults.

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Homeostasis

NEURAL MECHANISMS: EXPLANATION: ROLE OF NEURAL MECHANISMS

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Homeostasis involves mechanisms that detect and alter the internal environmental of the body to keep it consistent. To keep equilibrium in terms of food there are two separate systems: one for turning eating on and the other for turning it off.

GLUCOSE plays the most important part in producing feelings of hunger. Hunger levels increase and glucose decreases. A decline of glucose activates the LATERAL HYPOTHALAMUS resulting in feelings of hunger. The individual consumes food which causes the glucose levels to rise which activates the VENTROMEDIAL HYPOTHALAMUS which leads to feelings of satiety.

LIMITATIONS: for the hunger mechanism to be adaptive it must work to anticipate and prevent energy deficits and not just to react to them. For it to be truly adaptive the mechanism would work to keep food levels at optimum levels all the time.

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Lateral Hypothalamus

NEURAL MECHANISMS: EXPLANATION: ROLE OF NEURAL MECHANISMS

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Investigations into the lateral hypothalamus (LH) discovered that damage to the LH in rats caused aphagia (they stopped eating). It was also found that stimulating the LH induced feeding behaviour.

WICKENS (2000) discovered the importance of the neurotransmitter neuropeptide Y (NPY) when he injected it into the hypothalamus of rates. The NPY caused them to immediately begin feeding even when they were full.

STANLEY ET AL (1986) found that repeated injections caused obesity in a few days.

The LH has also been found to turn on other human actions such as thirst and sex. It has also been found that although the LH is important it is not the only mechanism involved in producing feelings of hunger.

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Neuropeptide Y (NPY)

NEURAL MECHANISMS: EXPLANATION: ROLE OF NEURAL MECHANISMS

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MARIE E AL (2005) manipulated mice genes so that they did not produce NPY and there was no decrease in feeling behaviour. This suggests that this may not be it's normal function.

Research has also indicated that NPY has an important role in humans. It suggests that people over eat because they produce excessive amounts of NPY.

Also, NPY is also produced by abdominal fat. This suggests that this leads to a vicious circle in which overeating causes more NPY and more NPY causes more overeating.

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Ventromedial Hypothalamus

NEURAL MECHANISMS: EXPLANATION: ROLE OF NEURAL MECHANISMS

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Research also found that damage to the ventomedial hypothalamus (VMH) caused rats to overeat; a condition known a hyperphagia. Stimulation of the VMH leads to lack of feeling.

GOLD (1973) found that lesions to the VMH caused hyperphagia, but he also found that other places in the brain caused the same thing. It was found that damage to the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) caused the same problem.

HOWEVER, these results have yet to be replicated.

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The Amygdala and the Inferior Frontal Cortex

NEURAL MECHANISMS: EXPLANATION: NEURAL CONTROL OF COGNITIVE FACTORS

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Cognitive factors relates to how thinking about food can make us hungry. This feeling can be triggered by memories, sights and smells. The neural control of these factors originates in two main areas of the brain: the AMYGDALA and the INFERIOR FRONTAL CORTEX.

The role of the amygdala is primarily the selection of foods on the basis of previous experience.

ROLLS AND ROLLS (1973) found that removing the amygdala in rats caused them to eat familiar and unfamiliar foods without judgement or preference. Rats with amygdalas would avoid novel foods.

The inferior frontal cortex receives messages from the olfactory bulb (smells). Because smell can influence taste, damage to the inferior frontal cortex is thought to decrease eating due to lack of smell and possibly taste.

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Kluver-Bucy Syndrome and Research Support

NEURAL MECHANISMS: EVALUATION: NEURAL CONTROL OF COGNITIVE FACTORS

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Damage to the amygdala and inferior frontal cortex could explain the feeling abnormalities displayed in Kluver-Bucy syndrome. Patients with the illness show increased appetite, indiscriminate eating and even attempts to eat non-food items. Research suggests that for these people, food cues don't accurately represent the reality.

ZALD AND PARDO (1997) have provided physiological evidence to support the claim that the amygdala participates in the emotional processing of smells. They exposed healthy adults to unpleasant smells while they measured their blood flow to the amygdala. Exposure to such smells increased blood flow whereas nice smells did not.

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Stress

NEURAL MECHANISMS: EXPLANATION: STRESS AND HUNGER

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Eating may not be entirely neural.

LUTTER ET AL (1008) found that the body produces extra quantities of the hormone ghrelin in response to stress. This hormone leads to hunger and eating.

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The Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation (EEA)

EVOLUTION: EXPLANATION: EEA

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The environment of evolutionary adaptation refers to the environment in which a species first evolved. Human beings emerged as a species on the savannah and natural selection would favour those who were equipped to be able to feed themselves and therefore ad to develop certain food tolerances and preferences.

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Early Diets

EVOLUTION: EXPLANATION: EVOLUTIONARY IDEAS

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Early humans were hunters and gatherers whose diet included the animals and plants that were part of their natural environment. Preferences for fatty foods would have been adaptive for early humans as energy resources were vital in order to survive. It they environment humans developed, calories were not readily available as they are now so they would have made a big effort to consume them.

GIBSON AND WARDLE (2001) provided evidence to support the importance of calories in the early diet. They showed the best way to predict which fruit and vegetables would be preferred by young children was not how sweet they were, but dense in calories they were. Bananas and potatoes are rich in calories and were more likely to be chosen showing an evolved preference.