Discuss factors that influence our attitudes to food (8+16)
One factor that influences our attitudes to food is social learning theory which states that through observation of other people eg. role models such as parents , we learn and develop our own attitudes and behaviours to food. Children may learn their attitudes to eating behaviour through observing parents and their preferences and the satisfaction they receive from food and through vicarious leaning, they replicate the behaviour themselves. Brown and Ogden’s research has shown a correlation between parent and child behaviour towards food, including body dissatisfaction, snacking between meals and eating motivations. Social learning may also occur through the media which highlights different attitudes to food that people observe and learn from. However attitudes towards food are a result of more than just social learning. Evolutionary explanations suggest that our preferences to fatty or sweet foods are a direct result of adaptation.
There is research support for the social learning theory. Meyer and Gast surveyed 10-12year olds and found a significant positive correlation between peer attitudes and eating patterns and it was found that the ‘likeability’ of peers was an important factor in how influential they were. Fisher et al also found support for how influential the social learning theory is in our attitudes to food, when studying mother and daughter relationships. It was found that the daughters eating behaviour was predicted by the mothers dietary constraint and their perception of the risks of their daughters becoming overweight. This would suggest that the daughters were learning their attitudes to food from their mothers and therefore support the social leaning theory explanation.
Much of the research into the social learning theory provides correlational data which provides an important link between observation of role models and our eating behaviour, however the research is low in external validity because it doesn’t confirm whether attitudes towards food is a symptom or cause of the Social Learning Theory. As a consequence there could be other explanations why our behaviour towards food is specifically what it is. For example people appear to learn from the media about healthy eating. However, researchers also state that eating behaviours can be limited to other factors such as income. People cannot always act on what they have learnt so it is difficult to measure the full effect of media on our eating behaviour.
Another factor which is influential to our eating behaviour is mood. Gibson found that we tend to comfort eat during times of stress or depression and one suggested reason for this is from the biological approach, that serotonin is important in elevating our mood. Many people crave sweet or starchy foods (carbohydrates) when they are feeling low. Carbohydrates are linked to increased mood because they lead to an increase in serotonin, one of the brain’s neurotransmitters which is associated with raised mood, which would explain the comfort-eating behaviour we experience. A prime example of this would be the fact that chocolate is often craved at low mood points. Carbohydrates like chocolate contain the amino acid tryptophan, which is needed to make serotonin. Therefore we want carbohydrates when we are feeling low in order to produce more serotonin.

The role of our mood in influencing our eating behaviour raises the nature/nurture debate. The serotonin hypothesis is a biological explanation as to why we eat certain foods when we are low in mood, such as carbohydrates as they increase our serotonin levels. However, tryptophan is not absorbed into the bloodstream when in the presence of protein, which it is in chocolate, meaning we can not use this explanation as to why people tend to eat a lot of chocolate when low in mood and tend to feel better afterwards. This suggests that this behaviour could be learned response rather than it being innate, as we may have observed role models turning to sweet food when low in mood and through vicarious learning, we have learnt to do the same. Therefore, the role nurture needs to be considered when looking at how influential mood is in our eating behaviour.