George R. Peters

Gender and Age Differences in Food Cognition

Results from three studies relevant to a model of food cognition based on the evaluative dimensions pleasure, health, and convenience are reported. In the first study, discriminant analyses of the evaluative ratings (n = 248) of 35 meals and snacks yielded significant gender and age differences on the pleasure and health dimensions. Separate factor analyses of the pleasure and health ratings revealed that males and females grouped foods differently on these criteria. The factor analysis of convenience ratings suggested that males and females perceive the meaning of convenience differently. In the second study, 336 college students rated 27 meals on the three evaluative dimensions and also indicated their preferences for each meal. Multiple regression analyses showed that preferences could be significantly predicted, and other results showed that as compared to males, females give higher health, pleasure and convenience ratings to healthy meals. The third study employed a modified free association technique to investigate gender and age differences in the meanings of nine familiar foods. Data from 96 males and females aged 18 to 86 revealed a substantial variety of significant age and gender differences for specific foods. It is suggested that taken together, these results indicate important cognitive and affective sources for gender and age-related food attitudes.

Reasons for eating : an exploratory cognitive analysis

Although a great deal is known about what people eat and the demographic and life style factors associated with food habits, relatively little systematic work has been done to investigate why people choose various foods. The present study describes a common‐sense approach to this question. Based on a series of free‐ranging exploratory interviews, a questionnaire that asked persons to rate 35 menu meals and snacks in terms of four scales; pleasure, health, tradition and convenience, was administered to 248 males (N = 104) and females (N = 144) ranging in age from 17 to 72 years. Series of component and discriminant analyses were performed for each scale. Results showing significant differences for age, sex and nutrition knowledge demonstrate it is possible to identify salient, common‐sense meanings of foods that combine to determine their status as items of dietary choice. Apart from providing a rigorous technique for cognitive mapping of food meanings, these results suggest new possibilities for studying ...

Food preferences in daily life: Cognitive, affective and social predictors

Based on prior research showing that a food cognition model employing the evaluative dimensions of pleasure/taste, health and convenience could significantly predict preferences for a representative list of hypothetical meals, the present study demonstrates that the model can effectively predict preferences for recent meals actually consumed. A total of 269 males (N = 122) and females (N = 147), ranging in age from 14 to 83 years, each evaluated three of their recent meals. Regression analysis yielded significant results very similar to those obtained for the hypothetical meals. Substantial differences were also found between the evaluations of morning, midday and evening meals: the health and convenience criteria are most heavily weighted for morning meals, whereas general “liking” is most heavily weighted for midday and evening meals. Additional results showed that the predictive ability of the model can be marginally improved by including a cost factor. Newly designed measures of the idiosyncratic mean...