What Is America Eating? Proceedings of a Symposium (1986) / Chapter Skim
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The Acquisition of Likes and Dislikes for Food
The Acquisition of Likes and Dislikes for Food
Pages 58-71
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From page 58... ...
At birth, the human infant has a few genetically programmed biases, such as a positive response to sweet tastes and a negative response to bitter, irritant, and perhaps other very strong tastes (e.g., Cowart, 19811. With the exception of these few innate rejections, children in our culture up to approximately 2 years of age seem to regard everything as potentially edible.
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From page 59... ...
Each of these reasons in one form motivates acceptance and in the opposite form motivates rejection (Table 11. 'rhis simplified system emphasizes the principal feature motivating acceptance or rejection.
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From page 61... ...
In contrast, substances in the subcategory of disgust evoke a strong negative emotional response, are offensive, and are thought to have unpleasant tastes, although in most instances they have never been tasted. Feces, insects, worms, and meat from reptiles and dogs are examples found in American culture.
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From page 62... ...
Although these findings suggest that nausea is a critical factor in detennining whether a food will become distasteful, it is unlikely that most acquired distastes were once associated with nausea. Fewer than half of the questionnaire respondents could remember even one instance of a food avoidance based on nausea, and these same people had many distastes.
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From page 63... ...
have demonstrated that rapid satiety enhances preference and liking in rats and humans. A study on die acquisition of liking for flavors of a variety of medicines provided no evidence that any odler postingestional effects (e.g., fever reduction, reduction in heartburn)
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From page 64... ...
Capsaicin, the active agent in chili pepper, stimulates the gastrointestinal system, causing salivation, increased gastric secretion, and gut motility. The salivation enhances the flavor of the frequently bland and mealy diets that are usually eaten with chili pepper.
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From page 65... ...
There is evidence that, like morphine, these brain opiates reduce pain and at high levels might produce pleasure. Hundreds of experiences of chilibased mouth pain may cause stronger and stronger brain opiate responses, resulting in a net pleasure response after many experiences (Rozin et al., 1982; see Solomon, 1980, for a statement of opponent process theory, which could account for the hypothesized effect)
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From page 66... ...
During toilet training, the initial attraction to feces may be changed into a strong aversion (disgust) a paradigmatic instance of what Freud described as a reaction formation (see Ferenczi, 1952; Senn and Solnit, 1968~.
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From page 67... ...
In a fifth view, disgust is viewed as an emotionally laden aspect of human social relations. Thus, many objects of disgust are human products or involve human mediation of one sort or another.
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From page 68... ...
That is, there are few if any substances that in trace amounts make a disliked food likeable. As succinctly put by a garage mechanic in Nebraska, "A teaspoon of sewage would spoil a barrel of wine, but a teaspoon of wine would do noting at all for a barrel of sewage." However, even within American culture one can perceive weak signs of positive transvaluation.
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From page 69... ...
Nausea following experience of a flavor is a particularly potent cause of an acquired dislike for that flavor. There is no factor nearly as potent as nausea to account for how some flavors come to be liked; but rapid satiety, association with already liked flavors, and a variety of sociocultural factors have been implicated.
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From page 70... ...
The minimal role of specific postingestional effects in the acquisition of liking for foods. Appetite.
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From page 71... ...
1975. When familiarity breeds contempt, absence makes the heart grow fonder: Effects of exposure and delay on taste pleasantness ratings.
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