Lectures Psychobiology of Food
Choice & Eating Behavior
1: Models of food choice
Food choice: the selection of food products we eat
But also: how much we eat, where we eat, with who we eat etc.
Modelling food choice
Types of models
- Existing vs new models (deductive / inductive)
- Mono vs multi-factorial
- Qualitative vs quantitative
What models can and cannot do
Strength of models: simplification of complicated matter
Restriction of models: validity, how well does a model translate the complexity of the real world
Determinants of food choice
- Biggest determinant of food choice is availability
- But there are determinants of what is available (four main groups)
Determinants of food choice/availability:
1. Biological aspects
2. Psychological aspects
3. Social aspects
4. Cultural aspects (antropology)
1. Biology & Food choice
- (Innate) taste biases → innate preference for sweet taste, innate dislike for bitter or sour
taste
- The Omnivore’s dilemma (Rozin) → humans are omnivores, we can digest almost everything,
but not everything is safe to eat/digest → equipped with a complex system that balances
between neophobia and neophilia
o Neophobia: resistance to try out new foods
o Neophilia: natural curiosity, drawn towards new foods
2. Psychology & Food choice
Study: Assortment of 300 M&M candies (Kahn & Wansink, 2004)
Result: Increasing the perceived variety can increase our consumption
- Groups: 7 or 10 different colors M&M’s
- Identical taste of each color
Eaten over 1hr period:
- 7 color group: 64
- 10 color group: 91
The group with more variety (10 colors), lead to an increased consumption of 43%
What is the rationale behind this? → tendency to try out each color → drives your consumption
,3. Sociology & Food choice
Study: Relative risk obesity in relation to SES and education (Monteira et al., 2004)
- In ‘low-income’-countries low risk for obesity in lower social classes
- In ‘upper-middle-income’-countries high risk for obesity in lower social classes
Risk for obesity in lower social classes increases with gross national product
4. Culture & Food choice
We can see pictures of different types of breakfast, and know which country/which country it’s from
It gives you information on what is eaten, but also where it is eaten (café, outside, home), how much
and also with whom
So culture is a very important factor
Thus: Food and food choice can only be understood by a mixture of biological, psychological, social
and cultural perspectives, all taken within a historical context
Food choice process model
Food choice process model approaches food choices over the life course
Construct an individual life course that involves past experiences as well as expectations about the
future
Food choices are seen as dynamic, evolves over time (over age)
Three levels: life-course, influences, personal food system
Qualitative study by Devine and colleagues (1998)
Life-course influences on fruit and vegetable trajectories, n = 86, low- to moderate income sampled
across: ethnic identity, age, household composition, gender
Results: There is a series of personal and environmental forces that shapes the fruit and vegetable
trajectory over the life-course
Personal & environmental forces identified in the study:
- Food upbringing
o Positive experiences → living on a farm, having a vegetable garden
o Negative experiences → being forced to eat vegetables as a child
- Roles + role transitions: marriage, divorce, employment, childbearing
- Health: acute and/or chronic illnesses, aging, self / others
- Ethnic traditions
- Resources: perceived knowledge/skills, available time, space, money
- Food system: changing health and diet information, cultural trends in cuisine
, First level: Life Course
- One central concept = individual food choice trajectory
- Along the individual food choice trajectory: transitions = shifts that lead to minor changes in
food choice patterns (e.g. switching jobs → different canteen with different food products)
- Turning point: major shift/impact in food choice (e.g. becoming vegetarian, getting a disease)
- Context: represent the environments in which life choices occur, both at macro-level
(society, culture) as well as micro-level (smaller circle: family, friends)
Example macro-context: salt content in bread reduced by law since 2012 → huge impact on
individual salt consumption
Example micro-context: moving to a home where you have your own vegetable garden
Second level: Influences
Clustered into 5 groups: ideals (normative beliefs), personal factors, resources, social factors
(relationships with other people), contexts
Third level: Personal Food System
Personal Food System = Translations of influences on individual food choices into how and what one
eats in particular situations
- Development of food choice values
- Classification of foods and situations
- Value negotiation
- Balancing competing values
- Strategies for recurring events
, Food choice values
= A set of considerations important in constructing food choices
= Dynamic, change over time
Five type of values that are important to almost everyone:
1. Taste: you eat what you like
2. Convenience: time and effort considerations
3. Cost: money consideration + related to ‘worth’ concept
4. Health: immediate and long-term physical well-being
5. Managing relationships: considerations on the interests of others
Other: e.g. quality, symbolism, safety, waste (can be important to some people, but for others they
may be less important)
Apart from food choice values:
- Classification foods/ eating situations according to personal food choice values (e.g. “eating
at home is healthier than eating out”)
- Value negotiation: prioritize values and weighing of options (e.g “fresh broccoli is healthy
and convenient but expensive and not tasty”)
- Balancing: process to resolve food choice value conflicts (e.g. “eating spicy food when eating
alone or out, but accept bland food when eating with young children”)
- Strategies: simplifying food choices in situations that occur repeatedlyScheme on page 12,
Ch 1, book
Limitations Food Choice Process Model
- Descriptive model, not predictive (broad but ‘shallow’= not very detailed)
- Focus on specific factors but leaves out others (i.e. biology, to some extent culture)
- Oriented on post-industrial Western society
Summary
- Determinants of food choice: biology, psychology, sociology and anthropology
- Food Choice Process model: life course perspective on food choices
- Life course = framework for 5 groups of influences on food choice: Ideals, personal factors,
resources, social factors, and context
- Influences provide framework for personal food system → translated influences into how
and what one eats in particular situations
- Personal food system is based on values: taste, convenience, cost, health, managing
relationships
Choice & Eating Behavior
1: Models of food choice
Food choice: the selection of food products we eat
But also: how much we eat, where we eat, with who we eat etc.
Modelling food choice
Types of models
- Existing vs new models (deductive / inductive)
- Mono vs multi-factorial
- Qualitative vs quantitative
What models can and cannot do
Strength of models: simplification of complicated matter
Restriction of models: validity, how well does a model translate the complexity of the real world
Determinants of food choice
- Biggest determinant of food choice is availability
- But there are determinants of what is available (four main groups)
Determinants of food choice/availability:
1. Biological aspects
2. Psychological aspects
3. Social aspects
4. Cultural aspects (antropology)
1. Biology & Food choice
- (Innate) taste biases → innate preference for sweet taste, innate dislike for bitter or sour
taste
- The Omnivore’s dilemma (Rozin) → humans are omnivores, we can digest almost everything,
but not everything is safe to eat/digest → equipped with a complex system that balances
between neophobia and neophilia
o Neophobia: resistance to try out new foods
o Neophilia: natural curiosity, drawn towards new foods
2. Psychology & Food choice
Study: Assortment of 300 M&M candies (Kahn & Wansink, 2004)
Result: Increasing the perceived variety can increase our consumption
- Groups: 7 or 10 different colors M&M’s
- Identical taste of each color
Eaten over 1hr period:
- 7 color group: 64
- 10 color group: 91
The group with more variety (10 colors), lead to an increased consumption of 43%
What is the rationale behind this? → tendency to try out each color → drives your consumption
,3. Sociology & Food choice
Study: Relative risk obesity in relation to SES and education (Monteira et al., 2004)
- In ‘low-income’-countries low risk for obesity in lower social classes
- In ‘upper-middle-income’-countries high risk for obesity in lower social classes
Risk for obesity in lower social classes increases with gross national product
4. Culture & Food choice
We can see pictures of different types of breakfast, and know which country/which country it’s from
It gives you information on what is eaten, but also where it is eaten (café, outside, home), how much
and also with whom
So culture is a very important factor
Thus: Food and food choice can only be understood by a mixture of biological, psychological, social
and cultural perspectives, all taken within a historical context
Food choice process model
Food choice process model approaches food choices over the life course
Construct an individual life course that involves past experiences as well as expectations about the
future
Food choices are seen as dynamic, evolves over time (over age)
Three levels: life-course, influences, personal food system
Qualitative study by Devine and colleagues (1998)
Life-course influences on fruit and vegetable trajectories, n = 86, low- to moderate income sampled
across: ethnic identity, age, household composition, gender
Results: There is a series of personal and environmental forces that shapes the fruit and vegetable
trajectory over the life-course
Personal & environmental forces identified in the study:
- Food upbringing
o Positive experiences → living on a farm, having a vegetable garden
o Negative experiences → being forced to eat vegetables as a child
- Roles + role transitions: marriage, divorce, employment, childbearing
- Health: acute and/or chronic illnesses, aging, self / others
- Ethnic traditions
- Resources: perceived knowledge/skills, available time, space, money
- Food system: changing health and diet information, cultural trends in cuisine
, First level: Life Course
- One central concept = individual food choice trajectory
- Along the individual food choice trajectory: transitions = shifts that lead to minor changes in
food choice patterns (e.g. switching jobs → different canteen with different food products)
- Turning point: major shift/impact in food choice (e.g. becoming vegetarian, getting a disease)
- Context: represent the environments in which life choices occur, both at macro-level
(society, culture) as well as micro-level (smaller circle: family, friends)
Example macro-context: salt content in bread reduced by law since 2012 → huge impact on
individual salt consumption
Example micro-context: moving to a home where you have your own vegetable garden
Second level: Influences
Clustered into 5 groups: ideals (normative beliefs), personal factors, resources, social factors
(relationships with other people), contexts
Third level: Personal Food System
Personal Food System = Translations of influences on individual food choices into how and what one
eats in particular situations
- Development of food choice values
- Classification of foods and situations
- Value negotiation
- Balancing competing values
- Strategies for recurring events
, Food choice values
= A set of considerations important in constructing food choices
= Dynamic, change over time
Five type of values that are important to almost everyone:
1. Taste: you eat what you like
2. Convenience: time and effort considerations
3. Cost: money consideration + related to ‘worth’ concept
4. Health: immediate and long-term physical well-being
5. Managing relationships: considerations on the interests of others
Other: e.g. quality, symbolism, safety, waste (can be important to some people, but for others they
may be less important)
Apart from food choice values:
- Classification foods/ eating situations according to personal food choice values (e.g. “eating
at home is healthier than eating out”)
- Value negotiation: prioritize values and weighing of options (e.g “fresh broccoli is healthy
and convenient but expensive and not tasty”)
- Balancing: process to resolve food choice value conflicts (e.g. “eating spicy food when eating
alone or out, but accept bland food when eating with young children”)
- Strategies: simplifying food choices in situations that occur repeatedlyScheme on page 12,
Ch 1, book
Limitations Food Choice Process Model
- Descriptive model, not predictive (broad but ‘shallow’= not very detailed)
- Focus on specific factors but leaves out others (i.e. biology, to some extent culture)
- Oriented on post-industrial Western society
Summary
- Determinants of food choice: biology, psychology, sociology and anthropology
- Food Choice Process model: life course perspective on food choices
- Life course = framework for 5 groups of influences on food choice: Ideals, personal factors,
resources, social factors, and context
- Influences provide framework for personal food system → translated influences into how
and what one eats in particular situations
- Personal food system is based on values: taste, convenience, cost, health, managing
relationships
