Eating Behaviour | AQA A-Level Psychology (7182)
Eating Behaviour
- 138 questions
- 6 subtopics
- Paper 3: Issues and options in psychology
- Paper 3
Eating Behaviour is an optional topic for Paper 3.
It covers why people prefer the foods they do, the neural and hormonal control of hunger, and biological and psychological explanations for both anorexia nervosa and obesity.
Sample questions from Eating Behaviour
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Explanations for food preferences
How does social learning influence the development of food preferences?
Show the answer
Food preferences develop through observation and imitation of eating behaviours displayed by parents, peers and other role models. -
Explanations for food preferences
What role does parental modelling play in children's food preferences?
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Parental modelling of food choices and attitudes towards food significantly influences children's developing food preferences. -
Neural and hormonal mechanisms in eating behaviour
When do ghrelin levels rise and what does this signal?
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Ghrelin levels rise before meals when the stomach is empty, signalling hunger to the brain. -
Neural and hormonal mechanisms in eating behaviour
What does the dual-centre model of eating propose?
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That the lateral hypothalamus and ventromedial hypothalamus work together to regulate food intake through opposing functions. -
Biological explanations for anorexia nervosa
Which neurotransmitter system has been particularly implicated in candidate gene research for anorexia nervosa?
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The serotonin system, including genes affecting serotonin receptors and transporters. -
Biological explanations for anorexia nervosa
What is the role of the insula in normal functioning, and how is it affected in anorexia nervosa?
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The insula is involved in interoception (awareness of internal body states) and taste processing; it shows altered activity in individuals with anorexia nervosa. -
Psychological explanations for anorexia nervosa
According to social learning theory, how is anorexia nervosa acquired?
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Social learning theory explains anorexia nervosa through observation and imitation of behaviours associated with thinness and dietary restriction. -
Psychological explanations for anorexia nervosa
Define all-or-nothing thinking as it applies to anorexia nervosa.
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All-or-nothing thinking involves viewing food and eating in absolute terms, such as categorising foods as entirely good or bad with no middle ground.
The 6 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Explanations for food preferences | The evolutionary account of preferences for fat and sugar, neophobia and taste aversion, and the learning and social influences that shape what people eat. | 19 |
| Neural and hormonal mechanisms in eating behaviour | The hypothalamic areas controlling hunger and satiety, the roles of ghrelin and leptin, and the limitations of the hypothalamic account. | 24 |
| Biological explanations for anorexia nervosa | Evidence for heritability, the link to serotonin dysfunction, reported brain differences, and the evaluation of biological explanations. | 16 |
| Psychological explanations for anorexia nervosa | Family systems theory, social learning theory and cognitive theory as explanations, and how the three compare. | 19 |
| Biological explanations for obesity | Inherited risk, the thrifty gene hypothesis, the role of leptin, and neural accounts of reward and hunger signalling. | 33 |
| Psychological explanations for obesity | Restraint theory, the boundary model of eating, disinhibition in restrained eaters, and the evaluation of both models. | 27 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA A-Level Psychology Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 2,999 questions with their answers.