Eating behaviour
Lecture 1: Likes and dislikes
Importance of eating behaviour
Why studying eating behaviour?
- Eating behaviour has an impact on the environment
o Meat consumption has the largest effect on CO2 emissions
- Responsible consumption and production is one of the sustainable
developmental goals
o Important to change our eating patterns
- Eating behaviour has an impact on our health
- Government, organizations, but also individuals care about eating behaviour (e.g.,
new year’s resolutions)
, Why is adopting a healthy and sustainable diet difficult?
Obesogenic food environment (high-calorie foods very easily available)
Food design (e.g., perfect crunch)
Media/advertising
Social norms
Brain processes
Upbringing
Motivation/self-regulation
Social Economic Status
- Eating is ordinary and multi-faceted and complex
- Changing diet/protein transition: behavioural issue → psychological insights are
necessary
Acquisition of likes and dislikes
Why do we like what we like and dislike what we dislike?
1. Innate preferences
2. Neophobia
3. Learned preferences
o Instrumental learning (reward)
o Learning from post-ingestive consequences
o Associative learning
o Pavlovian
4. Disgust (food specific reaction)
o The role of thoughts and appraisals
➔ Important for survival, adaptation to food environment
Innate preferences
Innate preferences:
- Innate preference for sweet, salty and umami
- No innate preference for bitter and really sour
- Innate preferences bias learning
o E.g., it is easier to learn to like foods that are a little sweet
than a little bitter
- Innate preferences can be overlearned
o E.g., preferences can change due to cultural context
Lecture 1: Likes and dislikes
Importance of eating behaviour
Why studying eating behaviour?
- Eating behaviour has an impact on the environment
o Meat consumption has the largest effect on CO2 emissions
- Responsible consumption and production is one of the sustainable
developmental goals
o Important to change our eating patterns
- Eating behaviour has an impact on our health
- Government, organizations, but also individuals care about eating behaviour (e.g.,
new year’s resolutions)
, Why is adopting a healthy and sustainable diet difficult?
Obesogenic food environment (high-calorie foods very easily available)
Food design (e.g., perfect crunch)
Media/advertising
Social norms
Brain processes
Upbringing
Motivation/self-regulation
Social Economic Status
- Eating is ordinary and multi-faceted and complex
- Changing diet/protein transition: behavioural issue → psychological insights are
necessary
Acquisition of likes and dislikes
Why do we like what we like and dislike what we dislike?
1. Innate preferences
2. Neophobia
3. Learned preferences
o Instrumental learning (reward)
o Learning from post-ingestive consequences
o Associative learning
o Pavlovian
4. Disgust (food specific reaction)
o The role of thoughts and appraisals
➔ Important for survival, adaptation to food environment
Innate preferences
Innate preferences:
- Innate preference for sweet, salty and umami
- No innate preference for bitter and really sour
- Innate preferences bias learning
o E.g., it is easier to learn to like foods that are a little sweet
than a little bitter
- Innate preferences can be overlearned
o E.g., preferences can change due to cultural context
