PSYCHOLOGY EATING A2

pscyhology revision for a2 aqa

?

ATTITUDES TO FOOD AND EATING BEHAVIOUR

Social learning theory - observing others and their eating behaviours influences our own. Brown & Ogden consistent correlations between parents & children in terms of body dissatisfaction/snacks/eating motivations.
AO2
Peer influences - Meyer & Gast found in a survey of 10-12 year old girls and boys there was a correlation between peers and disordered eating.
Media - Mcintyre et al attitudes towards healthy eating influenced by media.
AO2
Other factors influence attitudes towards healthy eating, circumstance e.g. thats why Jamie Oliver set up 'Ministry of food'.
Culture - Powell & Khan white women = body dissatisfaction/ eating disorders
AO2
Mumford et al found asian school girls were more likely to show bulimia.
Class - Dornbusch et al surveyed 7000 american adolescents/ higher class females want to be thin
Mood & Eating - Garg et al eating behaviours way to escape negativity/ 33 ppts/ upbead or sad film/ popcorn of grapes/ popcorn in sad film - need a 'boost'

AO2 HIGHER
Deterministic/ nature vd nurture/ gender bias/ reductionist/ evolutionary theory (preference for fatty foods)

1 of 8

NEURAL MECHANISMS IN EATING & SATIATION

Homeostasis keeps environment in body optimum, mechanisms detect internal changes.
AO2
Time lag, for a mechanism to be adaptive should anticipate and prevent. Not just respond to energy deficits.
Lateral Hypathalamus - found in 1950's rats with damage to it had aphagia, led researchers to think they'd found 'on switch'. Neuropeptide Y found in hypathalamus when injected into rats caused them to start eating immidiately.
AO2
Damage to LH caused loss to thirst/ sex. Caused by neural circuits in brain not just one. Marie et al genetically modified mice to have no Neuropeptide Y and found no changes.
Ventromedial Hypathalamus - When damage to VH rats had hyperphagia - found 'off' button.
AO2
Gold if just restricted to VH no affect. But follow up doesnt support him.
Neural control of cognitive factors - Amygdala and inferior prefrontal cortex are neural control of smells/images of food. Rolls & Rolls found damage to Amygdala meant rats couldnt distinguish between novel and familiar foods.
A02
May explain kluver-Bucy syndrome where there is increased appetite, indiscriminate eating.
AO2 HIGHER
Deterministic/ reductionist/ psychology is a science/ nomothetic approach/ animal ethics/

2 of 8

EXPLANATION FOR SUCCESS/ FAILURE OF DIETING 1

Higgins & Grey dieting associated with mind set where concerned with body weight/ shape, results in:
- restriction e.g. weightwatchers
- refraining e.g. atkins
- Avoiding e.g. anorexia
Restraint Theory - Klesges et al, 89% of women in uk conciously refrain food intake. Herman & Mack developed theory attempting to explain cognitive reasons for restricting food intake, suggest attempting not to eat increases overeating.
AO2
wardle & beales: women in diet condition ate more than in excersise and no treatment group.Restraint theory says restraining leads to overeating but is treatment of obestity. BUT failed diets may lead to depression which may lead to eating so obestity may not always be caused by overeating, it may be a consequence of it.
Boundary Model - Herman & Polivy model suggests hunger keeps intake of food above min. & satiety stops intake getting to high. Dieters have larger range, takes longer to feel full and hungry.
AO2
Limited relevance to ALL eating behaviours e.g. AN.
Role of Denial - Cognitive psychologists suggest suppressing thought makes it more prominant. Wegner et al, 'ironic processes of mental control'

AO2
Wegner admits 'ironic effects' research is limited.

3 of 8

EXPLANATION FOR SUCCESS/ FAILURE OF DIETING 2

Successful diet - Redden suggests secret to good diet depends on attention paid to what we eat; carried out experiment with 135 ppts/ 22 beans on at a time flashed on screen about the bean or the number/ ppts got bored with number
AO2
Might explain why Atkins is less successful than Weightwatchers.

AO2 HIGHER
Reductionist/ determinist ( genetics may be cause, lipoprotein an enzyme is found to increase as people who have lost weight gain weight again causing cals to be stored)/ pscyhology is a science/ gender bias/ nomothetic approach

4 of 8

EVOLUTIONARY EXPLANATIONS FOR EATING BEHAVIOUR

Early Diets: Hunter-gatherers whose diet included plants and animals in the environment. Preferences for fatty food meant energy could be conserved, in EEA (envionment of evolutionary adaptation) calories werent as plentiful as they are now so were conserved.
AO2 Gibson & Wardle Bananas and fruit were preffered by 4-5 year old children, rich in calories.
Preference for meat:
Meat was incorporated into diets because of decline in plant quality, fossil evidence from hunter-gathers found diet was rich in animal organs such as liver, kidneys and brains as rich source of energy. Meat provided catalyst for development of brain claims Milton. Chimps in tanzonia e.g. went for brain first after a long period of starvation.
AO2 Cordain et al argues early humans consumed most calories from sources other than saturated animal fats, ancestors vegetarians?
Taste Aversion: BAIT SHYNESS was first discovered by farmers/ tried to get rid of rats/ rats took small amount of new food/ if ill avoided. Garcia et al found that rats in lab when ill from radiation after eating saccharin developed an aversion, adaptive quality keeping ancestors alive.
The medicine effect: animals learn preference for food which makes helathier, Garcia et al found that when a distinctive flavour is presented to thiamine deficient rat  then followed by injection they favoured
AO2 Bernstein & webster: chemotherapy patients/ novel food before familiar before chemo/ associate illness with novel food instead of familiar.
AO2 HIGHER - reductionist/ psychology is a science/ cultural factors, spicy food e.g./ determinist/ other approached/ nomothetic

5 of 8

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR AN 1

Clinical Characteristics:
- Weight
- Anxiety                                                     AN - 'nervous loss of appetite'
- Body image distortion
- Amenorreah

SOCIO CULTURAL EXPLANATIONS
Gregory et al - national survey of young people found in UK 16% of 15-18 year olds currently on a diet.
AO2 -  ethnocentric, but Hoek et al examined reports of 44,000 cases of hospital records and found 87-89 in Curacao, rates of AN were in range of western countries - globalisation?

MEDIA INFLUENCES
Way media presents women influences attitudes towards body image and weight, James & Buckingham found individuals with low self esteem more likely to compare themselves to idealised images in media - cause vs consequence?
AO2 - Becker adolescent girls in Fiji and TV
ETHNICITY
Powell & Khan & Mumford et al
PEER INFLUENCES
Found in a US study that dieting among friends related to unhealthy weight control e.g. dieting pills
AO2 - Meyer & Gast

6 of 8

PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR AN 2

PSYCHODYNAMIC
Bruch
claims AN orginates from childhood. effective parents respond to children when hungry, ineffective will comfort them instead resulting in confused children about internal needs. When children reach autonomous stage they take excessive control over eating.

AO2 - Research found that Bruch's claims are supported by observation of parents and adolescents with AN, parents define childrens needs.
PERSONALITY
Retrospective study/ teenage boys and girls/ 73% of girls 50% of boys were perfectionist

AO2 - impulsiveness is also a known trait.

AO2 HIGHER
reductionist/ determinist/ psychology is a science/ nature vs nurture/ ethical issues/  evolutionary explanations

7 of 8

BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR AN

8 of 8

Comments

Get Revising Moderator 2

Report

Very in-depth and well backed up by studies. Very useful

Amyy

Report

Thanks a million..

These are great :D

MrsMacLean

Report

Really detailed and highly useful cards - 5 stars!

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Eating disorders resources »