The Psychology of Eating: From Healthy to Disordered Behavior

Food Choice 45

has explored the extent to which cognitions relate to the intentions to eat
cookies and whole-meal bread (Sparks, Hedderley, and Shepherd, 1992),
skimmed milk (Raats, Shepherd, and Sparks, 1995), organic food (Sparks
and Shepherd, 1992; Arvola et al., 2008), and fish (Verbeke and Vackier, 2005).
Much research suggests that behavioral intentions are not particularly
good predictors of behavior per se, which has generated work exploring
the intention–behavior gap (Gollwitzer, 1993; Sutton, 1998). Therefore,
studies have also used the TRA and the TPB to explore the cognitive pre-
dictors of actual behavior. For example, Shepherd and Stockley (1985) used
the TRA to predict fat intake, and reported that attitude was a better pre-
dictor than subjective norms. Similarly, attitude has also been found to be
the best predictor of table salt use (Shepherd and Farleigh, 1986a), eating in
fast-food restaurants (Axelson, Brinberg, and Durand, 1983), the frequency
of consuming low-fat milk (Shepherd, 1988), and healthy eating con-
ceptualized as high levels of fiber and fruit and vegetables and low levels of
fat (Povey et al., 2000). Research has also pointed to the role of perceived
behavioral control in predicting behavior, particularly in relation to weight

• Beliefs about
  outcomes


• Evaluations of
  these outcomes
  Behavioral
  intention Behavior


• Beliefs about important
  others’ attitudes to
  behavior


• Motivation to comply
  with others


• Internal control factors


• External control factors

Behavioral control

Subjective norm

Attitude towards

the behavior

Figure 3.4 The basics of the theory of planned behavior.