Eating Behaviour Psychology A Unit 3 Notes

Attitudes to Food and Eating Behaviour
Explanations of Attitudes to Food and Eating Behaviour
Cultural Influences
Ethnicity:
Research suggests that body dissatisfaction and related eating disorders are more a
characteristic of white women than black or Asian women. ( Powell and Khan 1995)
Ball and Kenardy (2002) studied over 14000…

more negative mood states than one hour before a normal snack or meal. W egner et
al (2002) had students record their eating patterns and mood states over a 2 week
period. Binge days were low mood days compared to the nonbinge days. There was
no difference in mood before…

E: STORY ET AL 1995 (contrasting D ORNBUSCH ET AL 1984) found in a sample of
US students, higher social class= greater satisfaction with weight, lower rates of
weight control behaviours.
E: Other studies no relationship between social class and weight dissatisfaction,
desire for thinness and eating disorders.

Mood and…

Restraint Theory
Herman and Mack 1975

Research suggests that as many as 89% of the female population in the UK
consciously restrain their food intake at some point in their lives
(Klesges et al 1987).
The Restraint Theory was developed as an attempt to explain both the causes and
consequences…

divided into either high or low disinhibition. This disinhibited restrained group (those
who tried to eat less but often over ate) used more thought suppression but also
showed a rebound effect they thought about it more. This shows that restrained
eaters who tend to over eat try to supress food…

The Theory of Ironic Processes of Mental Control
Attempts to suppress thoughts of food increase preoccupation with that food
they are avoiding.
Therefore, when food is denied: it becomes more attractive.
AO2
P : Supporting research theory of ironic processing
E : SOETENS ET AL 2006 p's divided, restrained and…

There are many complex theories to explain our biological drive to eat and become
satiated. There are two neural mechanisms that are part of the dual centre model of
feeding regulation. The role of the lateral hypothalamus and neuropeptide Y (NPY)
and the role of the ventromedial hypothalamus.

The Lateral…

Yang et al (2008) has shown that NPY is also produced by abdominal fat. The
researchers suggest that this leads to a vicious cycle where NPY produced in the
brain leads to more eating and the production of more fat cells which leads to an
increased production of NPY and…

allowed to eat freely, the hungry mice showed more anxiety and signs of depression
when carrying out tasks such as maze running. They found the same result when they
increased Ghrelin levels by making he mice stressed. These finings suggest that
food, hunger, stress and anxiety are all somehow associated.…

Taste aversion was first discovered by farmers trying to kill rats, they found that they
couldn't kill rats by poisoning food because rats would only sample a small amount of
the new food and if it made them ill, they would rapidly learn to avoid the new food.
For this…