Leiden University Student Repository

Dueren den Hollander, Eva van (2020)

The Human Tendency to Approach Food and its Relation to BMI

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

To help finding solutions to the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity, this field study examined the human tendency to approach food and its relation to BMI. Using a newly developed behavioral measurement method, food approach tendencies of 89 participants were assessed in states of hunger and satiation. Just as earlier lab studies, our results showed that people had approach tendencies to food. As expected, we also showed that participants with a high BMI had stronger food approach tendencies than participants with a low BMI. However, this study failed to confirm the expectation that the increased tendencies for people with a high BMI were more pronounced in states of satiation than in states of hunger. This failure could be attributed to (a) the fact that participants’ BMI did not vary enough, (b) the general disadvantages of our chosen statistical analysis, (c) contextual factors that we could not control for, or (d) the non-optimal exploitation of hunger state effects....Show moreTo help finding solutions to the growing prevalence of overweight and obesity, this field study examined the human tendency to approach food and its relation to BMI. Using a newly developed behavioral measurement method, food approach tendencies of 89 participants were assessed in states of hunger and satiation. Just as earlier lab studies, our results showed that people had approach tendencies to food. As expected, we also showed that participants with a high BMI had stronger food approach tendencies than participants with a low BMI. However, this study failed to confirm the expectation that the increased tendencies for people with a high BMI were more pronounced in states of satiation than in states of hunger. This failure could be attributed to (a) the fact that participants’ BMI did not vary enough, (b) the general disadvantages of our chosen statistical analysis, (c) contextual factors that we could not control for, or (d) the non-optimal exploitation of hunger state effects. Suggestions for future research are given.Show less

Author

Dueren den Hollander, Eva van

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Economic and Consumer Psychology

Supervisors

Zech, H.
Dillen, L. van

ECTS Credits

20

Evaluation

Recommended

Language

en