The Psychology of Eating: From Healthy to Disordered Behavior

Food Choice 35

that these negative consequences must occur within a short period of time
after tasting the food, as telling children that a novel food is “good for you”
has no impact on neophobia, whereas telling them that it will taste good
does have (Pliner and Leowen, 1997). The exposure hypothesis is also sup-
ported by evidence indicating that neophobia reduces with age (Birch, 1989).

Social learning

Social learning describes the impact of observing other peoples’ behavior
on one’s own behavior and is sometimes referred to as modelingor observa-
tional learning. This has been explored in terms of the roles of peers,
parents, and the media.

Peers
An early study explored the impact of “social suggestion” on children’s food
choices, arranging to have children observe a series of role models mak-
ing food choices different to their own (Duncker, 1938). The models
chosen were other children, an unknown adult, and a fictional hero. The
results showed a greater change in the child’s food preference if the model
was an older child, a friend, or the fictional hero. The unknown adult had
no impact on food preferences. In another study, peer modeling was used
to change children’s preference for vegetables (Birch, 1980). The target
children were placed at lunch for 4 consecutive days next to other children
who preferred a different vegetable (peas versus carrots). By the end of the
study the children showed a shift in their vegetable preference which
persisted at a follow-up assessment several weeks later. Similarly, Salvy et al.
(2008) asked children to play a sorting task whilst exposed to cookies either
on their own or with an unfamiliar peer or a sibling, and reported that
the consumption of cookies was highest for those sat with their sibling.
Furthermore, overweight girls have been found to eat more when sitting
with another overweight girl than with one of normal weight (Salvy et al.,
2007). However, children not only eat when others are eating but also are
influenced by what others are eating. For example, Addessi et al. (2005)
sat children to eat a novel food next to an adult who was not eating orwas
eating a food of the same color orwas eating a food of a different color.
The results showed that the children were more likely to consume the novel
food when the adult was in the same color condition. The impact of social
learning has also been shown in an intervention study designed to change
children’s eating behavior using video-based peer modeling (Lowe, Dowey,