Health Psychology : a Textbook

to be greater in males than females (both adults and children), to run in families (Hursti

and Sjoden 1997), to be minimal in infants who are being weaned onto solid foods but

greater in toddlers, pre-school children and adults (Birch et al. 1998).

One hypothesized explanation for the impact of exposure is the ‘learned safety’ view

(Kalat and Rozin 1973) which suggests that preference increases because eating the food

has not resulted in any negative consequences. This suggestion has been supported by

studies which exposed children either to just the sight of food or to both the sight and

taste of food. The results showed that looking at novel foods was not sufficient to increase

preference and that tasting was necessary (Birch et al. 1987). It would seem, however,

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 (Pliner and Loewen 1997). The exposure

hypothesis is also supported by evidence indicating that neophobia reduces with age

(Birch 1989).

Social learning

Social learning describes the impact of observing other people’s behaviour on one’s own

behaviour and is sometimes referred to as ‘modelling’ or ‘observational learning’. An

early study explored the impact of ‘social suggestion’ on children’s eating behaviours

and arranged to have children observe a series of role models making eating behaviours

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 modelling was

used to change children’s preference for vegetables (Birch 1980). The target children

were placed at lunch for four consecutive days next to other children who preferred a

Fig. 6-2 A developmental model of eating behaviour

138 HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY