(5) Eating Behaviour - Lecture notes 5 PDF

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HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY: LECTURE 5- EATING BEHAVIOURS WHY STUDY HEALTH BEHAVIOURS? - Global deaths from behaviours are increasing. - Diet and exercise factors influence higher deaths than tobacco. - Huge health concerns. THE ROLE OF DIET: - Focus on healthy eating. - Predictor of mortality. - Predictor of illness onset (cancer, CHD, diabetes) - Treatment of illness (cancer, CHD, diabetes) THEORIES OF EATING BEHAVIOURS: Why do we eat what we eat? - DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL (Exposure, social learning, association) - WEIGHT CONCERNS (meaning of food and weight, body dissatisfaction, dieting) - COGNITIVE MODELS (cognition models and distraction) - THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT EATING BEHAVIOUR. PSYCHOLOGY AND EATING: - Assumption of biological basis to eating. - Role of hunger, satiety, food preferences. - Some evidence for a preference of sweet and salty food. - Some evidence for a dislike of bitter foods (taste aversion) - Some evidence for biological drives. BUT: eating disorders, obesity, cultural differences, family differences, changes due to mobility, changes over time, psychological factors. - There is a biological basis that is evident for eating, but other influencing factors occur, such as a psychological component that contribute to eating behaviours. WHAT IS A HEALTHY DIET? - Changes from cultures and over the years. - has different recommendations in different countries for amounts of fruit and veg. - Food groups and amounts are advised. - Fruit and veg, high fibre, low fat and sugar, intake, carbohydrates, meat and fish, milk and dairy. - healthy food plate. - Across western world, diets of children and adults differ, and many people do not eat the recommended diet. - every age up until 75+ women eat more fruit and veg than men; and the rate of consumption of these fruits and veg increases as age increases (and drops) and then reaches a peak (this could be due to a lack of appetite as age increases). - income is directly related to how much fruit and veg you consume, those with a higher income, consume more fruits and vegetables (the poorer you are the less likely you are to eat them- cost?) USING SOCIAL COGNITION MODELS: - HMB, TRA (theory of reasoned action), TPB (theory of planned behaviour)

HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY: LECTURE 5- EATING BEHAVIOURS -

Emphasis on the role of beliefs. Attitudes, social norms, self-efficacy. Predicting intentions. Predicting behaviours. Adding extra variables.

USING COGNITIONS: TRA, TPB used to predict intentions to: - eat biscuits. - eat wholemeal bread - drink skimmed milk - eat organic veg. (Sparks et al, 1992; Raats et al, 1995; Sparks & Shepherd, 1992) - Behavioural intentions are not the best predictors of health behaviours SO: - using TRA & TPB to predict behaviour, attitude was found to be the best predictor of: - table salt use, eating food in fast food restaurants, consuming low fat milk, eating healthily (Povey et al, 2000; Shepherd, 1988; Wong & Mullan, 2009) -

Social norm components consistently fail to predict eating behaviours. - meta-analysis on 34 studies using TPB to predict eating behaviours in adolescents. Attitudes were the best predictor of intentions and intentions were the best predictor of actual behaviour (Riebl et al, 2015)

INTERVENTIONS TO CHANGE AND IMPROVE DIET: - Used TPB and self-determination theory (Jacobs et al, 2011). - Used TPB with a motivational intervention and implementation intentions (Gratton et al, 2007). Results show overall that such interventions can change dietary behaviour in the shortterm but are less successful long-term. THE BROADER IMPACT OF COGNITIONS: - The role of distraction TV, social interaction, music, computers. - watching TV and eating increases consumption of food, eating food whilst being busy disruptions the link between being hungry and not but continuing to eat. -

Disruption of the link between food intake and the desire to eat. The role of memory in attentive/inattentive eating? - encoding of the meal, impaired memory. - Does distraction prevent recall and encoding of food being consumed whilst eating? - keeping cues that you have eaten near you (wrappers) lessens consumption and reminds you that you have eaten; this will suppress consumption. - lacking the memory of food and having impaired memory (amnesia), can increase food intake.

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The food (obesogenic) environment: portion size, plate size, norms, mindless eating. - this can make it harder to know how much you have eaten and whether it is a

HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY: LECTURE 5- EATING BEHAVIOURS correct amount. - can be triggered by mood/ambiance, size of the plate or tubs (a big plate means that the portion of food is less and therefore encourages you to eat more) people are uncomfortable and in denial that this is an influence in consumption (a lack of conscious awareness is what leads to mindless eating) -

The role of language in eating behaviours (healthy vs unhealthy, snack vs meal) - if food is labelled as healthy, people are more likely to consume more (35% more) - labelling food as a snack or meal study (Ogden) found those who were eating pasta as a snack ate more than those eating it as a meal and those who ate more in subsequent eating, those who ate the most were told it was a snack and ate it as a snack. - ‘ I only ate a snack earlier’ means you encode it as a snack and therefore despite the portion size, it was a snack and then you are likely to eat more in your next meal. But if you sit down, and eat the same portion thinking it is a ‘meal’ you are likely to eat less food later on as you consider that you have already eaten a meal.

PROBLEMS WITH COGNITIVE MODELS: - GOOD role and evidence for cognitions BUT - Cognitions are chosen by the researchers and not the individual (90% of variance is unaccounted for; not everyone is the same and influenced the same amount by the same factors) - Most is quantitative research and not qualitative. - Ignores the meanings of food and weight. - Minimises the role of affect/emotions (fear of illness, weight gain) - Minimises the role of a social context.

DEVELOPMENTAL MODELS: (focuses on exposure, social learning, associative learning) - (Davis 1928-39) babies in hospital were studied, feeding practices were restrictive, she wanted to see if children would choose to eat healthily instinctively. She took reports of what they ate. - she found that children were able to choose healthy foods to eat that would help promote growth and they didn’t have any problems. (innate food preferences) she states that children have an innate feeding mechanism, children do need to have access to these healthy foods, and that they do have preference changes over time, influenced by external factors. - Some researchers stated that these preferences were learnt as they understood consequences, in order to control food intake- this meant that the role of learning was vital in food choices and preferences. EXPOSURE: - People show neophobia (fear and avoidance) - young children will learn to eat foods that they may have initially found threatening. - seeing foods, being in close proximity can help reduce neophobia. - it’s an innate neophobia, could be evolutionary.

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Evolutionary adaptive. - children can still show neophobia (2 year old children were given foods that would be considered scary over a 6 week period, and found a direct relationship between exposure and neophobia, but this indicated that 8-10 exposures would be needed to get rid of neophobia and for the preferences to shift significantly) - you would have to keep tasting it before a child can fully decide that they don’t like that food. - they need to taste the food with no negative consequences. - telling children that food is good for you has no impact, but telling children that it tastes nice does encourage food to be consumed (learned safety) Need exposure to reduce neophobia. Neophobia reduces after exposure. - neophobia reduces with age, and the willingness to try new foods increases with age (not with everyone) - children universally may have a dislike to foods with strong flavours (brasier vegetables- things such as olives) More common in males. - runs in families and is at its height in school children (‘fussy eater’) ‘learned safety’ explanation. Reduced not by sight but by taste and no negative consequences.

SOCIAL LEARNING: - Modelling, observational learning. - Impact of role models. - Impact of peer behaviour. - Impact of parental eating. - Impact of media scares. (eg: Birch & Fisher, 2000; Birch, 1980) - may be dated, but still important in the underpins of children’s eating. - they sat children next to other children with different eating preferences for 4 consecutive days (eating peas or carrots) - children showed a preference to the what the peer was eating, and therefore showed a shift in preference. - A study by Duncar looked at the relationship between social behaviour and individuals’ behaviours. - Children observed other children eating foods and eating in ways in which were different to what they were typically used to. - They looked at a peer, an unknown adult and a fictional character. - the unknown adult had no impact on food preferences. - but the friend and fictional superhero did impact food behaviours. Evidence shows that food preferences can change in children based on observing other people eating certain foods. PARENTAL ATTITUDES: - MOST LIKELY YOUR PRIMARY CAREGIVER. Research consistently shows a positive relationship with parents and children’s food preferences and their behaviour around foods.

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To change children’s eating, it is common to target parents eating first. This isn’t just for young children; adolescents are more likely to eat breakfast if their parents do. Emotional eating is concordance with adults emotional eating and children. Mothers and children are not always inline (Wardle, 1995) showed that mothers eating behaviours and that their food preferences were focused around calories, time and availability of food. They rated nutrition more important for their children than themselves. Mothers may also make different food choices for themselves and their children’s (Ogden & Alderson, 1999) found mothers fed their children less healthy non-dairy products and fewer healthy equivalents that they were eating themselves. This was different with mothers who were dieting, mothers who restrict their diet and calories in their own food, are more likely to feed their children the unhealthier foods that they aren’t allowing themselves. This relationship between maternal dieting and eating behaviour is supported by (Birch & Fisher, 2000) they found that the best predicter of daughters’ food intake was their mothers’ dietary behaviours, and the mother’s perceptions of the risk of their daughter becoming overweight. Social learning and the TV adverts, influence children; adverts who were overweight recognised more of the food adverts than the other non-food adverts. All children’s snack intake increased when watching more food adverts. Media scares also influence behaviour, (horse meat) - 1990 beef sales reduced due to the scare of cow disease - Edwina curry made egg sales drop by 50% due to stating they were all containing salmonella.

ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING: - Paring food with reward, behaviour, food: - REWARDING FOOD CHOICE. - ‘if you behave you can have a biscuit’ - ‘if you eat veg, you can have an ice cream’ - ‘eat hupe you can have hule’ (imaginary foods in a study, food used in a story became the most desired food, despite children not tasting the food; it showed that children understood that to get the hule (good food) you would have to eat the hupe (bad food) they inferred from the social interaction of what these foods mean. Children can build and make very big inferences on food, based on what they are told and even if you do not mention how bad a food is, if you don’t mention how good the food is or tell what the food actually tastes like. - using food as a reward increases the preference for that food, but this causes a difficult relationship with food. Makes reward food more palatable, makes access food less palatable (Birch et al., 1984; 1982) - This does discredit the access food, and becomes less valuable (if you tell children you can’t play with the sand until you have played with the water, they are more likely to want to play with the sand and not the water) - ‘if you eat your vegetables, I will be pleased with you’ - This can improve and change food preferences.

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Contingency effect. If a child gets praised for eating a healthy food, they are going to consume more of it. Rewarding veg consumption does increase that behaviour, tokens for eating fruit and veg at school which they could trade in for a prize increased their consumption after 2 weeks, but by 7 months after the programme had finished veg intake decreased back after receiving no rewards. You have to continue with rewards, and change rewards so it doesn’t get repetitive and boring. You can reward with prizes but also by giving unhealthy foods and treats.

ROLE OF CONTROL: - PARENTS control food: reward eating with food, restrict diets, use food as treats. This can however have a negative impact on food preferences; so, can be detrimental for children’s eating behaviours. - Should we allow children to eat what and whenever they like, as they have an innate drive? But can be still influenced by peers and other factors. - Can make restricted foods more desirable. - Children will overeat when given free choice (Fisher et al., 2000) - Overt/covert control (food environment) differently predicts snack food intake. - covert control can promote healthy eating (not having unhealthy food in the house, or eating fast food) (Ogden, 2006; Jarman et al., 2015) - overtly controlling it can be detrimental (having it in the house but not allowing children to eat it) - Children with cystic fibrosis shows problems with gaining and maintaining weight; they need to eat a high fat diet and less veg due to not being calorie dense; higher weight has better outcomes for lung capacity. PROBLEMS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL MODEL: - Use of lab studies (generalisable?) - Cross sectional limit conclusions about causality. - No real role for meaning of food - No real role for meaning of body size. MEANING OF FOOD: - Celebrations, culture, religion, power, social power, family love, guilt, denial, treats, control, pleasure, sexuality, boredom, comfort. - SEXUALITY: adverts for ice creams (show food as a positive sexual experience; buying ice cream and being sexy) - FOOD & DENIAL, SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS: ‘I always eat before going on a date, so I don’t eat Infront of my date’ (it’s not attractive to eat) - DENIAL, SIN, GUILT: products around food that have been sold as weight loss have been badged as being that this is what you eat to not be sinful; slimming world (food is counted as sins) eating the wrong foods or too much food is sinful and that we should feel guilty about eating foods. - ACT OF LOVE: eating when you don’t always want to, so that you are showing appreciation for the love and care that has been put into cooking you a meal, for example when we come back from uni and have a huge family meal.

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- CELEBRATION & RELIGION: eat foods and overindulge at specific times, Christmas meals; feasts. Foods can be symbolic and have a huge amount of meaning. Foods have shared meaning and individual meanings; as well as a huge influence on social life. POWER AND CONTROL; SUFFRAGETTE FORCED FEEDING: hunger strike after being imprisoned for fighting for women’s rights to vote, shows that they are controlledbut they do not have the right to not eat. In northern island, judge refuses to halt force feeding of inmate in solidarity confinement protest. Used as a means of protest.

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WEIGHT CONCERN: Body size also has a range or perceived meanings which influence eating (attractiveness, control, success) - these meanings may lead to weight concern, particularly for women: INFLUENCE EATING BEHAVIOUR: DIETING: - imposing cognitive control on eating. - eating less than you would like. - caused by body dissatisfaction? Not always but it is the most common influence. - RESTRAINT THEORY- dieting and eating behaviour (reduce food intake) - research shows those who restrained ended up eating more (Herman & Mack) gave dieters or non-dieters high or low calorie preload (those dieters who consumed the high load ate more)- this is called disinhibition. - CAUSES OF OVEREATING: - giving in, motivational collapse. - rebellion, active fuck it! - mood modification, masks negative mood - denial, suppressed thoughts become more salient (theory of ironic processes of mental control) - overeating as a relapse (dieting/bingeing) – the what the hell effect/disinhibition. - self-licencing, letting yourself go. A fine line between this and self-compassion? If you are kind to yourself after the ‘relapse’ it shortens the period of time in which you overeat, and you are more likely to be able to get back on the ‘bandwagon’ BODY DISSATISFACTION: - a distorted body size estimation (I think I am larger than I am) - a discrepancy between perceived reality and ideal (I am larger/thinner than I would like to be) - a negative response to the body (I am too fat) - body dissatisfaction cuts across many demographic factors (Grogan et al., 2016) WHAT CAUSES BODY DISSATISFACTION? - THE MEDIA (social comparisons, internalisation) we can be educated on the effects of the media. - FAMILY (mothers & daughters, modelling, relationships) PROBLEMS WITH WEIGHT CONTROL:

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GOOD because it provides meanings of weight and shape BUT: Not all body dissatisfaction leads to dieting. Not all dieting leads to overeating. SCM- intention to eat less, does actually sometimes lead to eating less. Restraint theory: intention to eat less leads and results in consuming more.

MINDFULNESS, SELF-COMPASION, SELF KINDNESS AND EATING: - Constraint theory and self-compassion (Adams & Leary) - Mindfulness based eating programme for binge eating (Kristeller) - Self-compassion, self-kindness and eating (Egan & Mantzios)

SUMMARY: - Eating behaviours may have a role for some biological factors (but has a major role for psychological factors) - Cognitive model emphasises the influence of beliefs - Developmental model emphasises learning - Weight control model emphasises meaning. - There are many contradictions and problems in eating research - Therefore, they need an integrated approach....