Gender and the Psychology of Eating

If you're a woman, you've probably thought about your weight and nutritional intake hundreds of times during your life. Many of us think about these issues every single time we dine. Maybe you've deprived yourself of calories at one meal only to binge later. You might have even written down the caloric value for every food you eat in efforts to lose weight or improve your appearance or health.

But have you considered how you change your eating behaviors depending on the gender of the people you eat with? In a study conducted a couple of years ago at McMasters University by Meredith Young, fascinating differences were discovered regarding how women eat based on whether they were dining with men or women.

The Research

Young's study at McMasters University revealed that when women dined with men, they (women) tended to eat less food and also consumed food with fewer calories (Science Daily website). When women lunched with other women, however, they consumed more food and calories. In groups having men and women dining together, the women again resorted to eating fewer calories. The more men present at the table, the fewer the calories consumed by the women.

The Results

Obviously, these results indicated that women care more about what men see them eating than what women see them consume. This study reveals more about food choices women make when men are present.

Where did Young conduct her research? Why, in the university cafeteria, of course. So, there are a couple of assumptions you can make about the research participants: they were mostly all in very late teens or early 20s and they were single. It can probably be assumed that at least half or more of the young women in the research were hoping to find a mate.

Young thusly theorized that many of the young women might have been focused on looking attractive and healthy as a way to engage in a relationship with a man. As women we've come far in terms of living independently and having our own lives. How do you explain the results of Young's research?

What do You Think?

Are we to believe that if women who want to lose weight arranged to eat dinner every day with 4 or 5 men, they'd eat less food and calories and drop pounds more quickly? Perhaps Young's next project ought to be conducting this same research in restaurants to observe the eating habits of women of all ages. Until then, gather all your male friends as your dining companions.

Source

Science Daily website