The role of learning in food preference, including social and cultural influences
People learn to prefer certain foods through experience, not just instinct. The people around us and the culture we grow up in both shape what we choose to eat.
Real World
Research by Birch (1980) found that children who saw peers enthusiastically eating a disliked vegetable significantly increased their own consumption of it — demonstrating social modelling of food preference in real children.
Exam Focus
When evaluating, contrast learning explanations with evolutionary ones — examiners reward explicit comparison of competing approaches.
Evaluation Scaffold
A four-step framework for high-quality evaluation. Use this for 'assess', 'evaluate', and 'to what extent' questions.
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