Enhancement of food aversion by exposure to a poisoned conspecific in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether exposure to a poisoned conspecific enhances prior food aversion in rats. In Experiment 1, subjects were serially exposed to two foods, cocoa‐flavored and cinnamon‐flavored ones, and were then poisoned 1 h later. On the next day, they were exposed to a poisoned conspecific that had eaten a cocoa‐flavored food. On the subsequent choice test, subjects had an enhanced aversion to cocoa‐flavored food. The result was replicated in Experiment 2, in which a cinnamon‐flavored food was assigned as a target. The results are discussed in relation to previous findings.     

Effects of behavioral skills training on parental treatment of children's food selectivity

We used behavioral skills training to teach parents of 3 children with autism spectrum disorder and food selectivity to conduct a home-based treatment package that consisted of taste exposure, escape extinction, and fading. Parent performance following training improved during both taste sessions and probe meals and was reflected in increases in children's acceptance of bites and decreases in their disruptive behavior. Parents also reported that increases in diet variety were maintained at follow-up.     

Personality Attributes of Volunteers and Paid Workers Engaged in Similar Occupational Tasks

Abstract

The authors' primary aim was to determine whether Australian volunteers and paid workers who were engaged in similar activities differed on aspects of a 5-factor model of personality. Their secondary aim was to determine whether personality attributes were similar between volunteers involved in different activities. The participants were 36 volunteer food preparers, 38 paid food preparers, and 31 volunteer firefighters. Each participant completed a personality inventory (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) and a brief demographic questionnaire. As predicted, the volunteer food preparers were more agreeable and extraverted than were their paid counterparts. The two volunteer groups differed only on the personality facet of assertiveness. The results support the existence of a constellation of traits that constitute a volunteering disposition; such traits may be relatively stable across time and situations. These results have scientific and practical implications for the literature on volunteering.     

The Effect of Variety and Dietary Restraint on Food Intake in Lean Young Women: A Preliminary Study

When satiety develops specific to sensory properties of food, variety leads to increased eating. The relationship between meal variety and dietary restraint was explored here in lean young women (18–20 years), classified into unrestrainers versus restrainers using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire Restrained Eating Scale. The expected variety effect obtained for unrestrainers (p < .05) but not for restrainers, despite a typical sensitivity to sensory-specific satiety and the same rate of habituation to sensory-based food responses (i.e., hedonics) across them. Unrestrainers’ eating appeared guided by hedonics (p < .05), but not restrainers’. These results suggest the potential involvement of an internal or participant characteristic, instead of an external factor, in moderating unrestrainers’ versus restrainers’ food consumption when offered a highly desired food (the favorite in the plain condition) versus less desired (but accepted) foods (presented successively with the favorite in the variety condition). Study limitations and suggestions for further research were discussed.     

Children's Judgments of Certainty and Uncertainty on a Problem Where the Possible Solutions Differ in Likelihood

In this study the author examined why children and adults think they need to eat. Preschoolers through adults were provided with physiological, social, psychological, and routine causes for eating breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner, and were asked to either agree or disagree with the causal responses provided. A 4 Reason × 4 Meal repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant main effects for meals and reasons, as well as significant Meal × Reason and Meal × Reason × Grade interactions. The effect sizes ranged from 0.1 to 0.7. Across all age groups, participants acknowledged physiological needs and desires (fulfilling hunger and needs to stay healthy) and routine (e.g., it is dinner time) as the primary causes for eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. However, for snack physiological needs were the primary reason. Second-grade students onward spontaneously produced biological justifications such as the need for energy and nutrition as important reasons for food consumption. These results lend support to the developmental model that children's and adults’ understanding of eating changes in middle childhood.     

Types of Food Aversions: Animal,Vegetable, and Texture

Despite a growing body of research investigating the origins and effects of food aversions, few research instruments have been developed to measure aversions to specific types or categories of food. Undergraduates (N = 209) responded to a series of food aversion questionnaires. The results suggest that people tend to be averse to 2 types of foods (vegetables and meats or fats) and to the texture and taste of certain foods (e.g., oysters). Aversions were slightly more prevalent among women than among men and were correlated with lower educational levels. The authors provide a means of advancing future research on this problem by reliably identifying 3 categories of food aversions. Future researchers should evaluate additional food categories and expand the focus on food aversions beyond the current concern with learned avoidance of specific food items.     

TURNING STONES INTO BREAD: DEVELOPING SYNERGISTIC SCIENCE/RELIGION APPROACHES TO THE WORLD FOOD CRISIS

The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) has a long history of delivering conferences addressing topics of interest in the field of science and religion. The following papers from the 2013 summer conference on “The Scientific, Spiritual, and Moral Challenges in Solving the World Food Crisis” are, in keeping with the eclectic nature of these conferences, very different in content and approach. Such differences underline the challenges of synergistically combining scientific and religious insights to increase understanding of global problems and their possible solutions. This in turn reflects deeper questions about the purpose and nature of the science/religion dialogue. These papers suggest various ways in which the two perspectives can be combined in the pursuit of building better understandings of food‐related issues, as well as highlighting difficulties and limitations which need to be addressed if the fruits of such dialogue are to make a wider impact. As such they serve as useful pointers for how this type of science/religion interaction might be further developed and deployed.     

FOOD: ITS MANY ASPECTS IN SCIENCE,RELIGION, AND CULTURE

Food is a sine qua non for life on Earth. It has more significance than nutrition and sustenance, more variety than many aspects of human culture. Food has religious as well as historical dimensions. The complexity of the food chain and of the related ecological balance is one of the wonders of the biological world. In the human context, food has found countless expressions and regional richness. Food has provoked feasts, as its lack and maldistribution have caused famines. While being a source of physical satisfaction food has also had environmental impacts. Some of these matters are explored in these reflections.     

素食的心理过程及影响因素

随着人们对健康、环境以及动物保护的关注, 素食主义日渐兴起。国内外对素食的心理学研究仍处于起步阶段。个体选择素食的心理过程涉及认知、情感、动机、认同感等方面, 素食行为受到个体差异、刻板印象、宏观因素的影响。未来研究有待深入探讨社会文化对素食行为的影响、中国文化情境下对素与素食的社会表征、素食的具身认知效应以及素食亚文化的动态形成过程, 以期引导对个体健康与环境有益的饮食模式。