36 Food Choice
and Horne, 1998). This series of studies used video material of “food dudes”
- older children enthusiastically consuming refused food – which was shown
to children with a history of food refusal. The results showed that exposure
to the “food dudes” significantly changed the children’s food preferences
and specifically increased their consumption of fruit and vegetables. Food
preferences, therefore, change through watching others eat (see figure 3.2).
Parents
Parental behavior is also central to social learning. In line with this,
Wardle (1995) contended, “Parental attitudes must certainly affect their
children indirectly through the foods purchased for and served in the
household...influencing the children’s exposure and...their habits and
preferences.” Some evidence indicates that parents do influence their
children’s eating behavior. For example, research indicates that adolescents
are more likely to eat breakfast if their parents do (Pearson et al., 2009)
and that emotional eating is concordant between adolescents and their
parents (Snoek et al., 2007). Further, Klesges et al. (1991) showed that
children selected different foods when they were being watched by their
Figure 3.2 Social eating.