AQA Psychology for A Level Year 2 Flashbook

S p e c S p o t l i g h t Book-link Y2/A Student Book Pages 224–225 Y2/A Revision Guide Pages 136–137 Explanations for food preferences: the evolutionary explanation, including reference to neophobia and taste aversion. AO1 Explanations for food preferences: Evolutionary AO3 Evolutionary explanation Preference for sweetness — signals high-energy food. Preference for salt — needed for many cell functions, appears early. Preference for fat — high calories, usually unavailable in distant past so valuable. Neophobia Innate unwillingness to try unfamiliar foods that could cause harm. Taste aversion Innate ability to quickly learn to dislike harmful foods (biological preparedness, Seligman). Bitterness aversion — adaptive because sign of toxins, benefits survival to avoid. Research support — prefer high-fat foods during stress, fuels fight-or-flight. Plausible mechanism— preferences are adaptive response to gut microbes (Alcock et al .). Individual differences — insensitivity to PROP inherited, difficult to explain. Neophobia nowmaladaptive — food now generally safe, so just restricts variety. Cultural influences —major role but ignored by evolutionary explanations. 83 Topic 6: EaTing BEhaviour