Why We Eat What We Eat: The Psychology of Eating

Eating is arguably the most fundamental of human activities. In Western societies in particular, there is great interest in diet, health, and food preferences. Why We Eat What We Eat: The Psychology of Eating translates the latest research results on the psychology of eating for health and psychology professionals as well as lay readers. This volume explores the shift in eating research from the search for bodily signals that trigger hunger to a focus on eating patterns emerging from a learning process based on life experience. This new book offers hope that healthful eating patterns can be learned. The volume proposes models for normal eating behavior and discusses how and why eating deviates from these norms. Why We Eat What We Eat expands on themes in the well-received volume Taste, Experience, and Feeding and makes the information accessible to a wider audience. It will be of value to anyone interested in eating and its psychological aspects: health psychology researchers and practitioners, physicians, pediatricians, nutritionists, educators, students, and parents.