Eating attitudes, eating behaviour and success & failure of dieting.

Question 1

Identify 4 factors influencing attitudes to food and eating behaviour

Answer 1

Mood, Culture, Social Cognitions, Health Concerns

Question 2

What important concept (shared by the people within a culture) shapes the behaviour of the people in that culture?

Answer 2

Values

Question 3

What type of conditioning can explain why children eat broccoli when their parents promise ice cream after.

Answer 3

Operant

Question 4

In classical conditioning, when a child eats all the meat on their plate because their parents praise them for doing so, identify 1. the US, 2. the NS, 3. the UR, 4. the underlying value that results in the parent giving praise

Answer 4

1. praise, 2. meat, 3. pleasure, 4. meat/protein is good for you

Question 5

According to ironic processing theory, which two things are in conflict, resulting in restraint leading to failure of dieting?

Answer 5

Thoughts about what the person thinks they should eat and thoughts about what they want to eat

Question 6

According to goal conflict theory, which two things are in conflict resulting in restraint leading to failure in dieting?

Answer 6

The goal (intention) about restricting food intake and the goal of gaining pleasure from food.

Question 7

Why might the cognitive deficit in ironic processing not cause people to find it difficult to avoid eating vegetables?

Answer 7

Vegetables are not as tasty / pleasurable as other foods, so it may be that we DO still think about vegetables when we’re not supposed to be thinking about them, but we just don’t act on the thoughts.

Question 8

What type of attitudes to food and eating behaviours can cultural influences (learning, availability, mere exposure) account for?

Answer 8

STABLE attitudes to food and eating behaviours.

Question 9

What kind of attitude to food and eating behaviour can ‘mood’ account for?

Answer 9

TEMPORARY attitudes to food and eating behaviour.

Question 10

How much serotonin might lead to an increase in appetite for sugary foods?

Answer 10

Too much!

Question 11

How much cortisol might lead to a decrease in appetite in general?

Answer 11

Too much!

Question 12

What is the relationship between MOOD, BRAIN CHEMISTRY, and EATING BEHAVIOUR?

Answer 12

Mood might directly affect eating behaviour because : (DEPRESSED MOOD = CHEMICAL IMBALANCE e.g. too little serotonin) –> INCREASED APPETITE.

Question 13

What is the relationship beween MOOD, BRAIN CHEMISTRY, and EATING BEHAVIOUR?

Answer 13

Mood might directly affect eating behaviour because : (INCREASED ANXIETY/WORRY = CHEMICAL IMBALANCE e.g. too much cortisol) –> DECREASED APPETITE.

Question 14

According to social learning theory, which 3 important agents of socialisation might result in positive attitudes to a low fat diet in the UK?

Answer 14

1. THE MEDIA 2. THE FAMILY 3. SCHOOL (EDUCATION)

Question 15

Which theory/ies of learning argue(s) we do NOT have to experience a reinforcement ourself for healthy eating in order for us to have a positive attitude towards health eating?

Answer 15

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING.

Question 16

Which theory/ies of learning argue(s) we have to experience a reinforcement ourself for healthy eating in order for us to have a positive attitude towards health eating?

Answer 16

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Question 17

Which theory/ies of learning argue(s) we learn to associate certain foods with our physiological response to something else (that’s paired with the food) which then results in us having a positive attitude towards (or at least a tolerance of) that food?

Answer 17

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Question 18

Why is RESTRAINT THEORY an incomplete theory?

Answer 18

…because it gives a reason why people fail at diets - i.e., because they are restricting their food intake, but it doesn’t explain why restricting food intake results in diet failure.

Question 19

What three theories ‘complete’ RESTRAINT THEORY by providing a reason why ‘eating restraint’ leads to diet failure?

Answer 19

IRONIC PROCESSING THEORY. GOAL CONFLICT THEORY. THE BOUNDARY MODEL.

Question 20

Sensitivity to what property of food is heightened in restrained eaters, according to GOAL CONFLICT THEORY?

Answer 20

The hedonic (pleasurable) properties.

Question 21

What does increased hedonic sensitivity to food in restrained eaters trigger?

Answer 21

A hedonic orientation towards food.

Question 22

What is the difference between a restrained eater’s hedonic sensitivity to food and a non-restrained eater’s hedonic sensitivoty to food, according to GOAL CONFLICT THEORY?

Answer 22

A restrained eater’s hedonic sensitivity to food is higher (so they are MORE sensitive) than a non-restrained eater’s hedonic sensitivity.

Question 23

What does heightened hedonic sensitivity to food in a restrained eater lead to, according to GOAL CONFLICT THEORY?

Answer 23

Cognitive processes will be geared towards pursuing the goal of deriving pleasure from food - and hence the person willl eat more / eat more high fat/sugar content foods.

Question 24

What kind of cognitive process leads to diet failure, according to IRONIC PROCESSING THEORY?

Answer 24

A deficient cognitive process.

Question 25

What is the cognitive deficit that leads to diet failure, according to IRONIC PROCESSING THEORY?

Answer 25

The inability to NOT think about something.

Question 26

What is the cognitive deficit that leads to diet failure, according to GOAL CONFLICT THEORY?

Answer 26

The inability to ignore environmental cues (‘reminders’) of information that is stored in our long term memory.

Question 27

Specifically, what is the information stored in our long term memory that we have an inability to prevent being primed (activated) by environmental cues (‘reminders’)?

Answer 27

The ‘memory’ / knowledge that food is a source of pleasure - i.e., tastes nice.

Question 28

What is the relationship between MOOD, MOTIVATION and EATING BEHAVIOUR?

Answer 28

Low mood may result in low motivation (to go shopping, socialise, cook, etc) which results in mood indirectly affecting eating behaviour - i.e., “I feel miserable, I can’t be bothered to cook, so I’ll get a takeaway.”

Question 29

What is the relationship between MOOD, SELF-ESTEEM and EATING BEHAVIOUR?

Answer 29

Low mood may result in (or be the result of) low-self esteem, which may influence whether a person eats or the type of foods they eat. For example, “ I feel miserable, I don’t like myself, if I eat less I might lose weight and then I’ll feel better” OR “I feel miserable, I don’t like myself, it doesn’t matter what I look like” food makes me feel better, so I’ll eat more”.

Question 30

Identify two theories that argue our social cognitions influence our attitudes to food and eating behaviours.

Answer 30

The Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

Question 31

Explain a similarity between the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

Answer 31

They both believe it is our thoughts which have been shaped by our social experiences that influence our attitudes to food and eating behaviours. The Health Belief Model suggests that our perceptions of susceptibility to ill-health are derived from our social experiences and these influence our eating behaviour, whereas the Theory of Planned Behaviour suggests it is subjective norms (our beliefs about what everyone else is doing) that influence our eating behaviours.

Question 32

Analyse Fisher & Birch’s 1995 findings in relation to cultural explanations of eating behaviours.

Answer 32

They found that children with the strongest preferences for high fat foods and the highest total fat intakes had heavier parents than children with low scores. This could be explained through operant conditioning - parents are heavy because they eat a high fat diet and their children learn through reinforcement that eating high fat food is good, for example - “ we’ll done for clearing your plate” and “ good boy for eating all your pie, you’ll grow up to be big and strong like Daddy”.

Question 33

Explain how Fisher & Birch’s 1995 findings could also be related to biological explanations of eating behaviours.

Answer 33

The fact that the children in their study that had the highest preference for high fat foods had the heaviest parents could be evidence for a genetic explanation for attitudes to food and eating behaviours - preference for high fat foods could be genetically inherited; thus the children with the highest preference for high fat foods had the heaviest parents because they too have a preference for high fat foods.

Question 34

Why is the learning explanation for eating behaviours deterministic?

Answer 34

Because according to behaviourists learning is a passive process over which we have no control. Learning is simply the shaping of behaviour by external factors - for example the learning of an association between eating a healthy diet and feeling good about oneself is something that happens without us being aware it is happening.

Question 35

What kind of attitudes to food and eating behaviours can culture account for?

Answer 35

Stable, long-term ones.

Question 36

What kind of attitudes to food and eating behaviours can mood account for?

Answer 36

Temporary, short-term ones.

Question 37

Identify some empirical evidence that supports Goal Conflict Theory of the success and failure of dieting.

Answer 37

Stroebe et al’s 2010 findings that (i.) Ps that were restrained eaters were significantly slower at recognising diet related words than non-restrained eaters when both had been primed with words such as ‘tasty’, ‘delicious’, etc; (ii.) restrained eaters were significantly slower at identifying diet related words when primed with words such as tasty’, ‘delicious’, etc than when pro ed with neutral words, whereas non-restrained eaters were not.

Question 38

Analyse Stroebe et al’s 2010 findings in relation to Goal Conflict Theory.

Answer 38

Stroebe et al’s 2010 findings that Ps that were restrained eaters were significantly slower at recognising diet related words than non-restrained eaters when both had been primed with words such as ‘tasty’, ‘delicious’, etc supports Goal Conflict Theory because the priming had a greater effect on the restrained eaters because their sensitivity to the hedonic properties of food was greater (because of restraint) - thus their thoughts of food inhibited thoughts of dieting, so the diet related words were less accessible in their cognitions, resulting in them being slower at identifying them.

Stroebe et al’s 2010 findings that restrained eaters were significantly slower at identifying diet related words when primed with words such as tasty’, ‘delicious’, etc than when primed with neutral words, whereas non-restrained eaters were not supports Goal Conflict Theory because this suggests that the restrained eaters’ thoughts of dieting were inhibited by thoughts of food because the priming was more influential on them because of their heightened sensitivity to the hedonic properties of food (resulting from restraint) - thus accessibility of diet related words was lower in the restrained eaters.