Eating Behaviour

5 Key excerpts on "Eating Behaviour"

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  eBook - PDF

  Nutrition and Metabolism

  • Helen M. Roche, Ian A. Macdonald, Annemie M. W. J. Schols, Susan A. Lanham-New(Authors)
  • 2024(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Furthermore, the elevated wanting for sweet foods in binge eaters coincided with them con- suming 50% more high-fat sweet foods in an ad libitum test meal (Dalton and Finlayson 2014). 15.5 The psychology of eating A vast literature has addressed the psychological determinants of food intake. However, early attempts to find out whether people with obesity shared a common obesogenic eating style were largely unsuccessful. Eating Behaviour traits have been extensively studied in an attempt to identify potential markers that detect a tendency to over- consume. These Eating Behaviours influence energy intake through choices about what type of food to eat, when to start and stop eating and where to eat. However, there is wide individual variability in eating styles, which has led to the development of several measures and constructs which aim to capture individual differences in Eating Behaviour. These constructs are assessed using psychometric, self-report scales, for example the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire and its sub-scales of cogni- tive restraint, susceptibility to hunger and disinhi- bition (Stunkard and Messick 1985). Restraint as a concept was developed to describe the state of chronic dietary concern, experienced by individuals who believe they need to regulate their weight. It therefore relates to a cognitive intention to restrict food intake, which is not necessarily reflected in actual adherence to a weight-reducing diet. Some experts now distinguish rigid restraint, which can indeed be associated with poor appetite con- trol, from flexible restraint, which is a beneficial attitude facilitating dieting and weight loss. Based on responses to multiple question- naires, studies have categorised people by such supposedly permanent psychological traits as disinhibition. People likely to lose control over eating or eat ‘opportunistically’ in a variety of circumstances are thought to show high levels of disinhibition.

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  The New Psychology of Health

  Unlocking the Social Cure

  • Catherine Haslam, Jolanda Jetten, Tegan Cruwys, Genevieve Dingle, S. Alexander Haslam(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  10. Eating Behaviour 215 A clear strength of these interactionist models is that they are more nuanced than single-factor frameworks in that they acknowledge the role that both individual-level factors and the social envi- ronment play in shaping behavioural outcomes. This is a theme that is developed further in the social identity approach to eating, which aims to provide a dynamic form of interactionist theorising which recognises the capacity for psychology and society to structure each other (Haslam, Jetten, Reyn- olds, & Reicher, 2013; Reynolds et al., 2010; Turner & Oakes, 1997). The social identity approach to eating With the exception of the interactionist model, the distinct foci of mainstream approaches to problematic Eating Behaviour have tended to pull different groups of researchers in very different directions. As a result, the literature in this area is something of a smorgasbord, which makes the task of developing an integrated theory of unhealthy Eating Behaviour quite challenging. Nevertheless, as we will see, there are a number of features of the foregoing review work that point to the unifying potential of a social identity approach to this topic (Cruwys et al., 2016). Most importantly, a key strength of the social identity approach is that it has the capacity to inte- grate across the different levels of analysis that previous research has shown to be important. More- over, it also has the potential to specify how these different levels of analysis interact. In particular, the social identity approach clarifies how abstract social phenomena such as societal norms, discrimina- tion, or the food environment structure the psychology of a particular individual and hence how they come to shape their Eating Behaviour. It is useful to illustrate this potential with reference to the issue of obesity. This condition is ulti- mately defined in biological terms: such that if a person has a BMI equal to or greater than 30 he or she can be considered obese.

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  Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence

  • Wieland Kiess, W. Kiess, C. Marcus, M. Wabitsch(Authors)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • S. Karger

    (Publisher)

  I think it is interesting to observe first that culture sets certain premises for how parents and children can eat and behave. Our habits are shaped by society. At the same time modernity has been characterized by increased individuality. This has affected people’s relationship to eating and food. In former times, when individual life was controlled to a greater degree by religion and morals, customs as well as economic resources controlled food intake. There existed social controls over when and what individuals could eat [1]. To overeat was once immoral and individuals risked to be publicly denounced by the Church. Scarcity of food, famines, religion and morals jointly prevented most people Some Psychological Viewpoints on Obesity 125 from constant overeating and from becoming morbidly obese. Now the situa-tion is different at least in the western world and in westernized societies and cultures. The moral and religious restrictions are weak and it is an individual responsibility to decide when, what and how much to eat. The individual alone must regulate his easily stimulated appetite in the face of unbounded food resources and intense promotion of appealing but unhealthy foodstuffs. In the following I present three areas of psychological interest. First, I describe some factors influencing the regulation of hunger and of appetite. Second, I describe some characteristics of obese children and third some psycho-logical problems that are associated with obesity. I try also to answer some questions often asked about obese children.

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  eBook - ePub

  Managing and Preventing Obesity

  Behavioural Factors and Dietary Interventions

  • Timothy Gill(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Woodhead Publishing

    (Publisher)

  et al. , 2005). The enhanced craving stimulated by food cues experienced by people restraining their intake of attractive foods may make it harder to resist the temptation to eat larger amounts of those foods when they become available.

  12.6 Psychological processes governing eating behavior

  We need to fully understand the psychological processes that govern eating behavior in general if we want to learn to control the excess eating induced by environmental food cues in overweight and restrained individuals. Eating behavior is influenced by aspects of both individual differences among people, as we have seen in the discussion of restrained eating and overweight/obesity (but which also include other personality traits such as impulsivity, memory, degree of deprivation, and beliefs about food), and the situation. Food cues are one aspect of the situation, but other factors such as social influence (the behavior of other people present), portion size, the palatability of the food, and the variety of foods available all affect eating behavior (e.g.,

  Herman et al. , 2005

  ). We cannot review all of these literatures here, but will give a brief summary of the salient findings.

  12.6.1 The psychology of the person

  We have seen that obese and overweight people seem to respond more strongly to food cues, as do restrained eaters. There is also evidence that trait impulsivity is similarly predictive of a cognitive bias toward food cues (

  Hou et al. , 2011

  ), is associated with increases in appetite ratings and desired portion sizes after food-cue exposure (

  Tetley et al. , 2010

  ), and is associated with weight gain over a 10-year period and with a tendency to give in to temptation (

  Sutin et al.

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  The New Psychology of Health

  Unlocking the Social Cure

  • Catherine Haslam, Jolanda Jetten, Tegan Cruwys, Genevieve Dingle, S. Alexander Haslam(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  A key message here is that eating, like all behaviour, is fundamentally a reflection and instantiation of our social beings. Indeed, it is worth noting that eating and social identity thus coalesce not only around pathology but also around festivology (e.g., Christmas, Thanksgiving, Ramadan; Fischler, 1988; Scholliers, 2001). The great French gastronome, Jean Brillat-Savarin, was thus correct to observe that what we eat determines who we are, but it is also the case that who we are determines what we eat. In these terms, unhealthy eating is not so much a sign of pathology in individuals as a sign of pathology in groups. Accordingly, it is to groups – and to group psychology – that we must turn if we wish to address the problems that unhealthy eating creates both for individuals and for society.

  Points for practice

  Arising from the discussion in this chapter, the following points are some of the most important for practitioners working in the area of unhealthy eating:

  1. Structural interventions that target the social context are likely to be most effective in achieving widespread improvement in unhealthy eating. Examples of such interventions include regulating junk food advertising, eliminating taxes on fresh fruit and vegetables, and banning ultra-thin models from fashion shows. Because social context affects the content of social norms and the social identities that become salient, changes to this are likely to have sustained and broad effects. Their efficacy is also well supported by empirical evidence (e.g., Brownwell & Frieden, 2009; Magnus, Haby, Carter, & Swinburn, 2009)
  2. Interventions which rely on individual self-control are likely to fail, as well as to increase discrimination directed at those who experience unhealthy eating. Individual choices about health behaviour are strongly shaped by social context and social influence, and are therefore rarely successful in combating entrenched patterns of behaviour that stem from environments that are not conducive to healthy eating.
  3. Practitioners should support body acceptance as a means of improving the mental and physical health of people who struggle with unhealthy eating

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