A sensitive period for learning about food

Cashdan, Elizabeth

doi:10.1007/bf02692155

Cited by 314 publications

(197 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…A significant body of literature documents the proclivity of humans and other mammals to select food from the environment through modeling the food selection of others (Birch, 1980;Galef, 1989;Rozin & Kennel, 1983;Rozin, 1976). It has been hypothesized that this behavior is innate and adaptive in guiding the selection of 'safe,' non-poisonous items from the environment (Cashdan, 1994). The present study extends these findings by indicating that children are also more likely to indiscriminately trust adult testimony when the stimulus is a food compared to a non-food.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Children's use of adult testimony to guide food selection

et al. 2008

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We hypothesized that children's reliance on adults' testimony regarding food choices would diminish when adults were shown to be unreliable informants by expressing liking for foods the children disliked. In 3 studies, 3-to 6-year-old children observed an adult expressing liking for food and nonfood items that were either the same as or opposite the child's stated hedonic assessments. Even after having observed an adult express liking for stimuli the children disliked, children still selected the item which the adult identified as hedonically positive. Children were more likely to select the stimulus identified as hedonically positive by the adult when the stimulus was food (as opposed to non-food), and when the adult's hedonic assessment was provided as an absolute ("I think this is yummy.") as opposed to a comparative statement ("I like this one better."). The results imply that an adult's identification of a food as hedonically positive serves as an important guide to children's food selection, even when children recognize that adults have very different hedonic assessments of foods from themselves. Providing information to children that a food is palatable in absolute terms also appears to shape children's food selection more powerfully than providing the information in comparative terms.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Children's use of adult testimony to guide food selection

et al. 2008

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“…As might be expected, these attitudes (as indicated, for example, by both breadth of diet and incidence of accidental poisonings) vary in a predictable way throughout the life cycle, with curiosity holding sway during the first two years of life and neophobia reaching its zenith around age 5 (Cashdan, 1994;1998). A similar pattern was observed in a study of free-living Japanese macaques: when candy was introduced to the group, only 10% of adults ate candy on initial presentation, whereas 50% of monkeys less than three years old did; a year after the initial introduction, 100% of 1-yearolds continued to eat candy, whereas only 51% of older females and 32% of older males did (Itani, 1958).…”

mentioning

confidence: 67%

The McDonald?s Equilibrium. Advertising, empty calories, and the endogenous determination of dietary preferences

Smith

2004

Soc Choice Welfare

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“…Mothers reported how often the child had eaten the food in the past 4 weeks ( Table 1). To reduce food neophobia, 29 the experimenter ate 1 Oreo cookie off of the plate and said, "I'm going to have one, too. Mmm, this is really good.…”

Section: Eah Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eating in the Absence of Hunger and Weight Gain in Low-income Toddlers

et al. 2016

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To identify predictors of eating in the absence of hunger (EAH) in low-income toddlers, describe affect during EAH, test EAH as a predictor of body mass index (BMI), and examine the type of food eaten as a predictor of BMI.METHODS: EAH, indexed as kilocalories (sweet, salty, and total) of palatable foods consumed after a satiating meal, was measured (n = 209) at ages 21, 27, and 33 months. Child gender, age, race/ethnicity, and previous exposure to the foods; maternal education and depressive symptoms; and family chaos, food insecurity, and structure were obtained via questionnaire. Child and mother BMI were measured. Child affect was coded from videotape. Linear regression was used to examine predictors of EAH and the association of kilocalories consumed and affect with 33 month BMI z-score (BMIz). RESULTS:Predictors of greater total kilocalories included the child being a boy (P < .01), being older (P < .001), and greater maternal education (P < .01). Being in the the top quartile of sweet kilocalories consumed at 27 months and showing negative affect at food removal had higher BMIz (β = 0.29 [95% confidence interval 0.10 to 0.48] and β = 0.34 [95% confidence interval, 0.12 to 0.56], respectively).There was no association of salty kilocalories consumed or positive affect with BMIz. CONCLUSIONS:There was little evidence that maternal or family characteristics contribute to EAH. EAH for sweet food predicts higher BMIz in toddlerhood. Studies investigating the etiology of EAH and interventions to reduce EAH in early childhood are needed.

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A sensitive period for learning about food

Cited by 314 publications

References 17 publications

Children's use of adult testimony to guide food selection

Children's use of adult testimony to guide food selection

The McDonald?s Equilibrium. Advertising, empty calories, and the endogenous determination of dietary preferences

Eating in the Absence of Hunger and Weight Gain in Low-income Toddlers

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