Food psychology

Part of a series on
Psychology
Basic psychology
Applied psychology
Concepts
Lists

Food psychology is the psychological study of how people choose the food they eat (food choice), along with food and eating behaviors.[1] Food psychology is an applied psychology, using existing psychological methods and findings to understand food choice and eating behaviors.[2] Factors studied by food psychology include food cravings, sensory experiences of food, perceptions of food security and food safety, price, available product information such as nutrition labeling and the purchasing environment (which may be physical or online). Food psychology also encompasses broader sociocultural factors such as cultural perspectives on food,[3] public awareness of "what constitutes a sustainable diet",[4] and food marketing including "food fraud" where ingredients are intentionally motivated for economic gain as opposed to nutritional value.[5][6] These factors are considered to interact with each other along with an individual's history of food choices to form new food choices and eating behaviors.[5]

The development of food choice is considered to fall into three main categories: properties of the food, individual differences and sociocultural influences.[1][7] Food psychology studies psychological aspects of individual differences, although due to the interaction between factors and the variance in definitions, food psychology is often studied alongside other aspects of food choice including nutrition psychology.[7]

As of 2022, there are no specific journals for food psychology, with research being published in both nutrition and psychology journals.[4][8]

Eating behaviors which are analysed by food psychology include disordered eating, behavior associated with food neophobia, and the public broadcasting/streaming of eating (mukbang).[9][10][11] Food psychology has been studied extensively using theories of cognitive dissonance and fallacious reasoning.[9][12]

  1. ^ a b Shepherd, R.; Raats, M., eds. (2006). The psychology of food choice. doi:10.1079/9780851990323.0000. ISBN 9780851990323.
  2. ^ Carfora, Valentina; Cicia, Gianni; Conner, Mark (2021-09-20). "Editorial: Mind the Sustainable Food: New Insights in Food Psychology". Frontiers in Psychology. 12: 725579. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.725579. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 8488082. PMID 34616341.
  3. ^ de Ridder, Denise; Gillebaart, Marleen (August 2022). "How food overconsumption has hijacked our notions about eating as a pleasurable activity". Current Opinion in Psychology. 46: 101324. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101324. ISSN 2352-250X. PMID 35339981.
  4. ^ a b Carfora, Valentina; Cicia, Gianni; Conner, Mark (2021-09-20). "Editorial: Mind the Sustainable Food: New Insights in Food Psychology". Frontiers in Psychology. 12: 725579. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.725579. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 8488082. PMID 34616341.
  5. ^ a b Tsai, Fu-Sheng; Wen, Xiao-Wei; Srivastava, Shalini (2021-11-18). "Editorial: The Psychology of Food Safety and Consumption". Frontiers in Psychology. 12: 767212. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.767212. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 8638618. PMID 34867669.
  6. ^ Mills, S. D. H.; Tanner, L. M.; Adams, J. (2013-01-09). "Systematic literature review of the effects of food and drink advertising on food and drink-related behaviour, attitudes and beliefs in adult populations". Obesity Reviews. 14 (4): 303–314. doi:10.1111/obr.12012. ISSN 1467-7881. PMID 23297736. S2CID 24310212.
  7. ^ a b Chen, Pin-Jane; Antonelli, Marta (2020-12-18). "Conceptual Models of Food Choice: Influential Factors Related to Foods, Individual Differences, and Society". Foods. 9 (12): 1898. doi:10.3390/foods9121898. ISSN 2304-8158. PMC 7766596. PMID 33353240.
  8. ^ van den Heuvel, Emmy; Newbury, Annie; Appleton, Katherine (2019-01-12). "The Psychology of Nutrition with Advancing Age: Focus on Food Neophobia". Nutrients. 11 (1): 151. doi:10.3390/nu11010151. ISSN 2072-6643. PMC 6356997. PMID 30642027.
  9. ^ a b Ong, Andy Swee-Jin; Frewer, Lynn; Chan, Mei-Yen (2015-05-15). "Cognitive dissonance in food and nutrition–A review". Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 57 (11): 2330–2342. doi:10.1080/10408398.2015.1013622. ISSN 1040-8398. PMID 25976736. S2CID 4138376.
  10. ^ van den Heuvel, Emmy; Newbury, Annie; Appleton, Katherine (2019-01-12). "The Psychology of Nutrition with Advancing Age: Focus on Food Neophobia". Nutrients. 11 (1): 151. doi:10.3390/nu11010151. ISSN 2072-6643. PMC 6356997. PMID 30642027.
  11. ^ Kircaburun, Kagan; Harris, Andrew; Calado, Filipa; Griffiths, Mark D. (2020-01-06). "The Psychology of Mukbang Watching: A Scoping Review of the Academic and Non-academic Literature". International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. 19 (4): 1190–1213. doi:10.1007/s11469-019-00211-0. ISSN 1557-1874. S2CID 209893148.
  12. ^ Köster, Egon Peter (July 2003). "The psychology of food choice: some often encountered fallacies". Food Quality and Preference. 14 (5–6): 359–373. doi:10.1016/s0950-3293(03)00017-x. ISSN 0950-3293.