Table Of Contentof Foo
A
Psycholog~
of Fooa
More Than a
Matter of Taste
Bernard Lyman, Ph.D .
•
An aVI Book
Published by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company
New York
An AVI Book
(A VI is an imprint of Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.)
Copyright © 1989 by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 88-5676
ISBN-13: 978-0-442-25939-6
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright
hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, record
ing, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems-without
written permission of the publisher.
Designed by Rosa Delia Vasquez
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.
115 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10003
Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Limited
Molly Millars Lane
Wokingham, Berkshire RG11 2PY, England
Van Nostrand Reinhold
480 La Trobe Street
Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
Macmillan of Canada
Division of Canada Publishing Corporation
164 Commander Boulevard
Agincourt, Ontario MIS 3C7, Canada
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lyman, Bernard, 1924-
A psychology of food: more than a matter of taste/Bernard
Lyman.
p. cm.
"An AVI book."
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-442-25939-6 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-011-7033-8
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-011-7033-8
1. Food-Psychological aspects. I. Title.
TX357.L94 1989
152. 1 '6-dc19 88-5676
CIP
To my sons, Tim, Burt, and Ethan,
with affection and respect
CONTENTS
Preface ix
PART 1
Food: Its Psychological Meaning and Significance
Chapter 1. The Role of Food and Eating in
Personality and Social Development 3
PART 2
Food Preferences
Chapter 2. Long-term Food Preferences 13
Chapter 3. Fluctuations in Food Preferences 34
Chapter 4. The Relation Between Emotions and
Food Preferences 44
Chapter 5. Fads, Fashions, and Food Preferences 55
PART 3
Food as a Complex Psychological Stimulus
Chapter 6. Taste 63
Chapter 7. Odor 69
Chapter 8. Texture 85
Chapter 9. Appearance 97
Chapter 10. Color 109
vii
viii Contents
PART 4
Food Meanings and Associations
Chapter 11. Food Meanings 125
Chapter 12. Changing Food Likes and Dislikes 139
Chapter 13. The Use of Food as Psychotherapy 154
Chapter 14. Conclusion 160
Bibliography 161
Index 175
PREFACE
Writing this book has been a pleasure, but it has also been frustrating. It
was a delight to see that the facts of food preferences, eating, and food
behavior conform in many ways to the general principles of psychology.
Matching these, however, was often like putting together a jigsaw puz
zle-looking at a fact and trying to figure out which psychological theories
or principles were relevant. This was made more difficult by conflicting
principles in psychology and contradictory findings in psychological as
well as food-preference research.
The material cited is not meant to be exhaustive. Undoubtedly, I have
been influenced by my own research interests and points of view. When
conflicting data exist, I selected those that seemed to me most representa
tive or relevant, and I have done so without consistently pointing out
contrary findings. This applies also to the discussion of psychological prin
ciples.
Much psychological research is done in very restrictive conditions.
Therefore, it has limited applicability beyond the confines of the context in
which it was conducted. What holds true of novelty, complexity, and
curiosity when two-dimensional line drawings are studied, for example,
may not have much to do with novelty, complexity, and curiosity in rela
tion to foods, which vary in many ways such as shape, color, taste, texture,
and odor. Nevertheless, I have tried to suggest relationships between psy
chological principles and food preferences.
The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 examines the psychological
meaning and significance of food, and its role in personality and social
development. Part 2 discusses stable and fluctuating food preferences,
including the role played by emotions. In Part 3, food is treated as a
complex stimulus based on its sensory qualities of taste, odor, texture,
appearance, and color. Reference to associations and food meanings is
made throughout the book, but they are the primary focus in Part 4, which
deals also with preferences as attitudes and with preference changes as
attitude changes. Chapter 13 is somewhat speculative; it discusses using
food as psychotherapy and contains proposals for future research.
ix
PART 1
Food: Its Psychological
Meaning and Significance
CHAPTER 1
The Role of Food and Eating
in Personality and Social
Development
Of all the activities in which we normally engage on a daily basis, eating
and the psychological effects of food have been almost totally ignored by
psychologists. Yet the acquisition and consumption of food is never far
from the thoughts of most individuals, even those in affluent societies.
Indeed, for many persons, the sole reason for work is to provide food,
clothing, shelter, and essential services for themselves and their families.
Except for taxes and shelter, food claims the largest part of their incomes.
Accurate estimates are difficult to make because of differences in family
composition and income levels. The United States Department of Labor no
longer publishes itemized family budget expenditures, but in 1981 it re
ported that a metropolitan-area family of four with an intermediate income
spent the following percents of its total income on the three household
categories: food, 23 percent; housing, 22 percent; clothing, 5 percent. A
lower-income family spent 30 percent of its income on food, while a
higher-income family spent 19 percent (Statistical Abstracts of the United
States 1982). In a 1986 survey of its readers, Consumer Reports obtained
comparable figures for a roughly equivalent family: food, 20 percent; hous
ing, 24 percent; and clothing, 5 percent (Consumer Reports 1986). In 1984, 15
percent of the average after-tax income was spent on food (Family Economic
Review 1986). Of this, approximately 28 percent was spent for food pre
pared outside the home. By late 1985, that figure had risen to 40 percent
(CKO News 1985), with 22 percent of the meals being eaten away from
home and 25 percent of the food dollar being spent on those meals (Restau
rants and Institutions 1985).
3
4 Food: Its Psychological Meaning and Significance
Food in Daily Living
Childhood
The amount of income spent on food does not, however, give full weight
to the importance placed on food throughout our lives, particularly during
our formative years when food is given to us without our sharing in the
responsibility for obtaining it. First, there is the process of training, when
we are ordered, cajoled, threatened, bribed, and in other ways bamboo
zled into acquiring good manners or eating what is good for us simply
because someone bigger than we are says we should. We are told to eat
nicely and not make a mess; or to eat so we will grow big and strong; or not
to eat foods that will rot our teeth or make us obese. If we won't eat the
cold mashed squash set before us, it is implied that we must somehow bear
the guilt for the starving millions of the world. When parents pretend the
food is really delicious, they begin to establish the child's realization that
they are not always truthful. These early years are a hodgepodge of do's
and don'ts. Nutritional requirements are hopelessly confused with the nice
ties of eating as imposed or expected by one's family and the culture in
which one lives. The point is not that either of these considerations should
be abandoned, but rather that food plays a dominant and confusing role in
our growing up.
Adolescence
As we enter our teens the direct emphasis on food continues unabated.
We are told we are getting fat from eating hamburgers and french fries, or
that our skin problems are caused by eating candy bars instead of fresh
fruit. In fact, today's teenagers are probably given as many dire warnings
about the adverse effects of food as their parents were given about the
adverse effects of sex.
It is also during the teens that food takes on a subtle role in our orienta
tion toward the future. Teenagers are admonished to prepare for earning a
living, to give thought to "putting food on the table." The emphasis on
food may be indirect in these considerations of the future, but it is nonethe
less pervasive and persistent. The choice of a career, the selection of a
mate, and our general lifestyles are affected by associations between food
and various attitudes implanted in us intentionally or unintentionally by
those around us.
Adulthood
Although Americans like to think of themselves as a classless society,
social mobility in the United States is largely constrained by table manners,
food preferences, and familiarity with various kinds of foods. If we prefer
meat loaf to lobster, we are thought to lack "class." If we ask for corned
