Learning and food preferences | AQA A-Level Psychology Revision

For 7182 specification, first teach in September 2025

AQA A-Level Psychology | Free Revision Notes

Estimated study time: 60 minutes

Food preferences are not determined only by biology. People also learn what to eat through associations, rewards, observation and repeated exposure to the foods valued by their social and cultural groups. These Learning and food preferences A-Level Psychology revision notes examine classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social learning and cultural norms. You will also learn how parents, peers and other models can encourage particular food choices. The current AQA specification explicitly requires the role of learning in food preference, including social and cultural influences.

Learning Objectives 🎯

By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:

• Explain how classical conditioning can create food preferences and aversions.

• Explain how direct reinforcement influences food choices.

• Explain how observation, imitation and vicarious reinforcement shape preferences.

• Explain the influence of parents, peers and other social models.

• Explain how cultural norms and exposure produce differences in food preferences.

• Apply learning explanations to unfamiliar examples of food choice.

• Evaluate the role of learning by considering biological and evolutionary influences.

Revision Notes 📚

Learning and food preferences overview

A learning explanation proposes that food preferences are acquired through experience.

People may learn to like or dislike a food because:

• It has been associated with a pleasant or unpleasant experience.

• Eating it has been followed by a reward.

• Avoiding it has removed an unpleasant experience.

• They observe another person eating and enjoying it.

• A valued model is rewarded for choosing it.

• It is repeatedly eaten within their family or culture.

• Continued exposure makes it familiar.

AQA mark schemes identify four particularly important routes:

1. Classical conditioning

2. Operant conditioning and reinforcement

3. Social learning and modelling

4. Cultural norms and exposure 

The general learning pathway

A simplified learning explanation is:

experience with food → association or social consequence → preference changes → future selection changes

Unlike the evolved preferences, neophobia and taste aversion, learning explanations emphasise environmental experience.

The approaches are not necessarily competitors.

A person may possess an evolved attraction to sweetness, while learning:

• Which sweet foods are available.

• When they are eaten.

• Whether they are considered treats.

• Which brands or recipes are preferred.

• Whether a particular flavour is associated with celebration or illness.

What is a learned food preference?

A learned food preference is a liking or avoidance that develops through experience.

For example:

A child initially shows no strong preference for lentil soup but begins enjoying it after repeatedly eating it during relaxed family meals.

The flavour may become connected with:

• Familiarity.

• Warmth.

• Family attention.

• Positive emotion.

• Approval from others.

The preference is therefore not explained solely by the soup’s biological properties.

Preference, consumption and availability

These terms should not be confused.

• Preference means liking or selecting one option over another.

• Consumption means actually eating the food.

• Availability means the food is accessible.

A person may eat a food without preferring it because:

• It is the only option.

• Someone has instructed them to eat it.

• Social pressure is present.

• They are hungry.

• Another preferred food is unavailable.

Similarly, removing a food from the home may reduce consumption without teaching the person to dislike it.

This distinction is particularly important in examination questions about how parents can teach healthy food preferences.

Associative learning

Associative learning occurs when a person learns a connection:

• Between two stimuli.

• Between a behaviour and its consequence.

The two main forms are:

Form of learning	Association learned
Classical conditioning	One stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus
Operant conditioning	Behaviour becomes associated with its consequences

Both can influence food preferences, but they operate differently.

Classical conditioning

What is classical conditioning?

Classical conditioning is learning through association between stimuli.

A previously neutral stimulus becomes capable of producing a response after it is repeatedly paired with a stimulus that already produces that response.

In food preference:

• A food or flavour may begin as relatively neutral.

• It is repeatedly paired with a pleasant experience.

• The positive emotional response becomes associated with the food.

• The food itself may later produce liking or anticipation.

AQA mark schemes recognise temporal association and the pairing of food with a pleasurable experience as explanations of preference.

The classical-conditioning process

The main terms are:

• Unconditioned stimulus, or UCS.

• Unconditioned response, or UCR.

• Neutral stimulus, or NS.

• Conditioned stimulus, or CS.

• Conditioned response, or CR.

Before conditioning

A pleasant event naturally produces a positive emotional response.

For example:

enjoyable family attention → happiness

The family attention is the unconditioned stimulus because it produces happiness without the person having to learn the association.

Happiness is the unconditioned response.

A new food may initially produce no particular emotional response.

It is therefore a neutral stimulus.

During conditioning

The food is repeatedly presented during the pleasant family experience.

new food + enjoyable family attention → happiness

After conditioning

The food becomes associated with the pleasant experience.

food alone → positive response or preference

The food has become a conditioned stimulus.

The learned liking is the conditioned response.

Worked classical-conditioning example

Each Sunday, Priya eats a particular vegetable dish while spending enjoyable time with her grandparents.

Before learning

• Time with grandparents naturally produces happiness.

• The vegetable dish is initially neutral.

During learning

• The vegetable dish is repeatedly paired with warmth, attention and enjoyment.

After learning

• Seeing or tasting the vegetable dish may produce positive feelings.

• Priya begins to prefer it.

The preference may therefore result partly from association rather than only from the food’s flavour.

Positive associations

Foods can become associated with:

• Celebrations.

• Family attention.

• Holidays.

• Comfort.

• Praise.

• Relaxation.

• Social belonging.

For example:

A food regularly served at enjoyable celebrations may later produce positive feelings even when eaten in another setting.

The person has learned an association between the taste and the emotional context.

Food does not have to be intrinsically pleasurable

A flavour that was initially unfamiliar or mildly disliked may become preferred if repeatedly connected with positive experiences.

However, learning may be slower where the food:

• Produces a strong innate aversion.

• Has previously been associated with illness.

• Is offered during conflict or pressure.

• Remains unfamiliar because it is rarely encountered.

Classical conditioning and aversion

Classical conditioning can also produce food avoidance.

For example:

food → nausea → later avoidance of the food

If a person becomes ill after eating a particular flavour, the food may become a conditioned stimulus producing nausea or avoidance.

This is examined more fully through taste aversion and biological preparedness.

Preference versus aversion

Classical conditioning may explain:

• Positive preferences through pleasurable association.

• Avoidance through association with illness or discomfort.

AQA identifies an important limitation, however:

Classical conditioning may explain aversions more effectively than positive food preferences.

This is because the connection between food and illness can be particularly rapid and powerful, whereas positive preferences may depend on many repeated experiences and other social influences.

Stimulus generalisation

Stimulus generalisation occurs when a learned response extends to stimuli resembling the original conditioned stimulus.

For example:

A child who enjoys one mild vegetable soup may become more willing to try similar soups.

Alternatively:

A person who becomes ill after one creamy dessert may begin avoiding several similar desserts.

Generalisation can therefore broaden:

• A preference.

• An aversion.

• Willingness or unwillingness to try related foods.

Stimulus discrimination

Stimulus discrimination means learning to distinguish between similar stimuli.

For example:

A child may learn to enjoy one type of cheese while continuing to dislike another.

The preference is specific rather than generalised to all foods in the same category.

Extinction

Extinction occurs when a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the event with which it was previously associated.

For example:

• A food was associated with an unpleasant experience.

• The person later eats it safely several times.

• The aversion gradually weakens.

Extinction does not necessarily erase the original learning completely.

The response may sometimes return, particularly after a long period or during stress.

Operant conditioning

What is operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning is learning through the consequences of behaviour.

A behaviour followed by reinforcement becomes more likely to occur again.

A behaviour followed by punishment becomes less likely.

In food preference research, the relevant behaviour might be:

• Trying a new food.

• Selecting a particular snack.

• Finishing a portion.

• Eating a vegetable.

• Refusing a food.

AQA explicitly identifies operant conditioning, direct reinforcement and rewards as learning influences on food preference.

Reinforcement

Reinforcement increases the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated.

There are two forms:

• Positive reinforcement.

• Negative reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement occurs when a pleasant consequence follows behaviour.

For example:

A child tastes a new vegetable and receives praise.

The sequence is:

eating the vegetable → praise → eating the vegetable becomes more likely

Other possible reinforcers include:

• Attention.

• Approval.

• A sticker or point.

• Access to an enjoyable activity.

• Enjoyment from the taste itself.

Primary and secondary reinforcers

A primary reinforcer is naturally rewarding, such as:

• Food.

• Relief from hunger.

• A pleasant taste.

A secondary reinforcer gains value through learning, such as:

• Praise.

• Tokens.

• Stickers.

• Points.

The reward should be distinguished from the behaviour being reinforced.

For example:

Praise is the reinforcer. Eating the vegetable is the behaviour.

Direct reinforcement

Direct reinforcement occurs when the individual personally receives a consequence.

For example:

Elena eats fruit and her parent praises her.

Elena directly experiences the approval.

The likelihood of choosing fruit may increase.

This differs from vicarious reinforcement, where another person receives the consequence and the observer learns from watching.

Intrinsic reinforcement

The food itself may provide reinforcement through:

• Pleasant taste.

• Relief from hunger.

• A satisfying texture.

• Feelings of fullness or energy.

For example:

A person selects a filling meal, feels comfortably satisfied afterwards and becomes more likely to choose it again.

No external praise is required.

Negative reinforcement

Negative reinforcement occurs when behaviour removes or avoids an unpleasant experience.

It is not the same as punishment.

For example:

A child complains about a food until the parent removes it.

The child’s refusal is followed by the removal of the disliked food.

The consequence may negatively reinforce refusal:

refusing → unpleasant food removed → refusing becomes more likely

The parent’s behaviour may also be negatively reinforced:

parent removes food → complaining stops → parent becomes more likely to remove it next time

This can create a repeated interaction in which food refusal is maintained.

Negative reinforcement is not punishment

• Reinforcement increases behaviour.

• Punishment decreases behaviour.

The word negative means that something unpleasant is removed, not that the consequence is harmful.

Punishment

Punishment is a consequence that reduces the likelihood of behaviour.

For example:

A child is criticised after refusing a meal.

The intention may be to reduce refusal.

However, punishment may also create unpleasant associations with:

• The food.

• Mealtimes.

• The parent.

• Trying unfamiliar foods.

A learning explanation therefore predicts that the emotional context around eating can become part of what is learned.

Using one food as a reward

Consider:

“Eat the vegetables and then you can have the chocolate.”

Several associations may develop:

• Eating vegetables is treated as an unpleasant task.

• Chocolate is presented as the valuable reward.

• The reward food may gain additional status.

• Vegetable consumption may increase temporarily without creating genuine liking.

The child’s immediate behaviour and long-term preference are not necessarily identical.

📌 Exam precision: Rewarding consumption may increase eating on that occasion, but a full answer should explain what preference is being learned rather than assuming that compliance automatically means lasting enjoyment.

Shaping

Shaping involves reinforcing gradual steps towards a target behaviour.

For a child reluctant to eat a new food, possible stages might include:

1. Allowing the food on the plate.

2. Touching or smelling it.

3. Tasting a small amount.

4. Eating a larger amount.

5. Choosing it independently.

Reinforcing manageable steps may be more effective than expecting immediate consumption of a full portion.

Consistency of reinforcement

Learning is clearer when:

• Similar behaviour receives similar consequences.

• Expectations are understandable.

• Rewards do not change unpredictably.

• Different caregivers respond consistently.

If one parent praises a child for trying a food while another reacts negatively, learning may be less predictable.

Social learning theory

What is social learning?

Social learning theory proposes that people can learn by observing other people.

Food preferences may be acquired by watching:

• Parents.

• Siblings.

• Friends.

• Peers.

• Teachers.

• Public figures.

• Media models.

The central social-learning processes include:

• Observation.

• Imitation.

• Identification.

• Modelling.

• Vicarious reinforcement.

These processes are specifically recognised in AQA mark schemes for food preference.

Observation

Observation occurs when a person watches another individual’s behaviour and its consequences.

For example:

A child watches family members regularly eating and enjoying vegetables.

The child learns information about:

• What is safe.

• What is normal.

• Which foods are valued.

• How people respond to the food.

The child does not need to be directly rewarded during the observation.

Model

A model is the person whose behaviour is observed.

Models influencing food preferences may include:

• Parents.

• Older siblings.

• Friends.

• Members of a peer group.

• Media figures.

The influence of a model may depend on:

• Familiarity.

• Status.

• Similarity.

• Attractiveness.

• Emotional relationship.

• Whether the observer identifies with them.

Modelling

Modelling occurs when a person demonstrates behaviour that another person may learn.

For example:

Parents eat a varied meal and talk positively about its flavours.

The parents model:

• Trying the food.

• Enjoying the food.

• Treating the food as ordinary.

• Including it within normal family meals.

This creates an opportunity for the child to learn a similar preference.

Imitation

Imitation occurs when the observer copies the model’s behaviour.

For example:

A child sees an older sibling eat cucumber and then tries cucumber themselves.

Imitation concerns copying the observable behaviour.

A preference may develop after:

• The food becomes familiar.

• The child experiences its taste.

• Positive consequences follow.

• The behaviour is repeated.

Identification

Identification occurs when a person relates to a model and wants to be like them.

Children may identify with:

• Parents.

• Older siblings.

• Friends.

• Admired media figures.

Identification may make imitation more likely.

For example:

A child may be especially likely to copy a respected older sibling’s food choices.

The explanation is stronger than merely stating that the child “saw somebody eat”.

It explains why that particular model has influence.

Vicarious reinforcement

Vicarious reinforcement occurs when a person observes somebody else being rewarded and becomes more likely to copy the rewarded behaviour.

For example:

A child watches their sibling receive praise for trying a new vegetable.

The observing child does not receive the praise directly.

However, they learn:

eating the vegetable may lead to approval

The likelihood of imitation may increase.

Vicarious punishment

An observer may also see another person experience an unpleasant consequence.

For example:

A child watches a sibling being mocked for eating a particular food.

The child may become less willing to select it.

Food preferences can therefore reflect the social consequences attached to foods, not only their taste.

Mediational processes

Social learning is not automatic.

The observer may think about the behaviour before reproducing it.

The relevant mediational processes are:

1. Attention.

2. Retention.

3. Motor reproduction.

4. Motivation.

Attention

The person must notice the model’s food choice.

Attention may be stronger when the model is:

• Familiar.

• Admired.

• Similar to the observer.

• Emotionally important.

Retention

The behaviour must be remembered.

For example, the child remembers:

• Which food was eaten.

• The model’s positive reaction.

• The reward that followed.

Motor reproduction

The observer must be capable of reproducing the behaviour.

For food preference, this usually involves being able to:

• Access the food.

• Eat it safely.

• Perform the modelled choice.

Motivation

The observer needs a reason to copy.

Motivation may come from:

• Expected praise.

• Social acceptance.

• Identification with the model.

• Anticipation of pleasant taste.

• Observation of another person’s reward.

Parents as social models

Parents can influence food preferences through:

• Modelling.

• Direct reinforcement.

• Vicarious reinforcement.

• Food availability.

• Repeated exposure.

• Emotional reactions.

• Family rules and routines.

The 2021 AQA mark scheme specifically states that eating together allows a child to observe and imitate parental preferences and adopt family norms.

Parent says one thing but models another

Suppose a parent says:

“Vegetables are important.”

but regularly refuses vegetables and chooses another food.

The child observes the behaviour as well as hearing the instruction.

Social learning predicts that the modelled action may be particularly influential.

A more consistent approach would involve the parent:

• Eating the food.

• Showing a genuine positive response.

• Treating it as a normal part of the meal.

Family meals

Family meals provide repeated opportunities for:

• Observation.

• Imitation.

• Positive association.

• Conversation about food.

• Exposure to family norms.

Consider:

A family regularly eats the same meal together, and the adults calmly enjoy a range of foods.

The child observes:

• Trusted people eating the food.

• No harmful consequences.

• Positive social interaction.

• The food being treated as familiar and acceptable.

The preference may develop through several mechanisms at once.

Siblings

Siblings can influence preferences because they may be:

• Similar in age.

• Frequent companions.

• Admired models.

• Competitors for attention.

• Sources of approval or ridicule.

For example:

A younger child watches an older sibling enjoy a new meal and receives encouragement from them.

This may combine:

• Identification.

• Imitation.

• Direct reinforcement.

• Exposure.

Peer influence

Why peers matter

As children grow older, peers may become important models.

Peers communicate:

• Which foods are normal.

• Which foods are fashionable.

• Which foods are accepted by the group.

• Which foods may be mocked.

• How much it is normal to eat.

A person may imitate peer choices to:

• Gain acceptance.

• Avoid rejection.

• Express group identity.

• Demonstrate similarity.

Peer modelling

A student who normally avoids a particular food tries it after several friends order and enjoy it.

This can be explained through:

• Observation.

• Imitation.

• Identification with the group.

• Anticipated social approval.

Peer pressure and genuine preference

Eating a food in front of peers does not necessarily prove that a genuine preference has developed.

The behaviour may initially represent conformity.

However, repeated consumption can increase:

• Familiarity.

• Exposure.

• Opportunities for positive reinforcement.

A lasting preference may then emerge.

Media and advertising

The 2021 AQA mark scheme recognises parents, peers, media and advertising as competing influences on food preference.

Media can provide models through:

• Advertisements.

• Television.

• Films.

• Online content.

• Influencers.

• Celebrity endorsements.

How media modelling may work

The model may be shown:

• Enjoying the product.

• Receiving social approval.

• Appearing successful or attractive.

• Sharing the food with friends.

• Experiencing excitement or comfort.

The observer may form an association:

product → reward, status or enjoyment

Advertising and classical conditioning

Advertising may pair a food with:

• Music.

• Humour.

• Attractive settings.

• Celebrations.

• Admired people.

The positive emotional response may become associated with the product.

This is classical conditioning.

Advertising and social learning

Where an admired person eats and enjoys the product, the observer may:

• Attend to the model.

• Identify with them.

• Remember the behaviour.

• Become motivated to imitate it.

This is social learning.

One advertisement can therefore use more than one learning mechanism.

Cultural influences

What is culture?

Culture refers to the shared values, practices, beliefs and norms of a social group.

Culture influences:

• Which substances count as food.

• How food is prepared.

• Which tastes are familiar.

• When meals are eaten.

• Which foods are linked with celebration.

• Which foods are avoided.

• How food communicates identity or belonging.

AQA requires cultural influences as part of the learning explanation and recognises that cultural norms produce differences in food likes and dislikes.

Cultural norms

A cultural norm is a shared expectation about acceptable or usual behaviour.

Food norms may concern:

• Suitable breakfast foods.

• Foods eaten during festivals.

• Foods regarded as treats.

• Expected levels of spice.

• Meal timing.

• Sharing practices.

• Foods that are avoided.

A person grows up observing these patterns and may treat them as normal.

Cultural norm pathway

food repeatedly selected by group → food seen as normal and acceptable → individual eats it → familiarity and reinforcement develop → preference becomes established

Culture therefore influences preference through learning rather than changing taste receptors directly.

Cultural differences

Different cultural groups may prefer different:

• Flavours.

• Ingredients.

• Cooking methods.

• Levels of bitterness or spice.

• Meal combinations.

This variation supports the role of learning because human biology is broadly shared, while particular diets differ.

AQA mark schemes use exposure to chilli as an example of the power of culture and learning over an initially difficult taste.

Careful interpretation

Cultural influence does not mean every member of a culture has the same preference.

Within any culture, people differ because of:

• Family experience.

• Personal associations.

• Availability.

• Age.

• Peer groups.

• Biological taste sensitivity.

• Individual choice.

Culture affects probability and norms rather than determining everyone identically.

Exposure hypothesis

What is the exposure hypothesis?

The exposure hypothesis proposes that repeated exposure to a food increases familiarity and can increase liking.

AQA’s 2022 mark scheme explicitly connects cultural differences in preference with the exposure hypothesis.

A new taste may initially be:

• Unfamiliar.

• Difficult to interpret.

• Treated cautiously.

• Rejected through neophobia.

Repeated safe exposure can make the food:

• Recognisable.

• Predictable.

• Less threatening.

• Part of an ordinary diet.

Basic exposure pathway

unfamiliar food → repeated safe exposure → increased familiarity → reduced avoidance → possible preference

The result is not guaranteed, but the opportunity for preference increases.

Exposure and neophobia

Neophobia is avoidance of unfamiliar food.

Repeated exposure changes the key condition:

• The food is no longer unfamiliar.

• The child has observed that it can be eaten safely.

• Trusted people may model its consumption.

• The flavour becomes easier to recognise.

Learning may therefore reduce an evolved avoidance tendency.

This demonstrates interaction between:

• evolutionary caution towards unfamiliar foods

• Social and cultural experience.

Mere exposure and social exposure

Exposure can occur in different ways.

Direct exposure

The person repeatedly:

• Sees.

• Smells.

• Tastes.

• Eats the food.

Social exposure

The person repeatedly watches other people:

• Prepare it.

• Eat it.

• Enjoy it.

• Treat it as safe.

Social exposure combines familiarity with modelling.

Cultural exposure

The food is repeatedly present in:

• Family meals.

• Celebrations.

• Shops.

• Restaurants.

• Media.

• Community events.

The individual gradually learns that the food is an accepted cultural option.

Familiarity does not guarantee preference

Repeated exposure may not create liking where:

• The food is repeatedly paired with pressure.

• The person becomes ill after eating it.

• The taste remains strongly aversive.

• The model reacts negatively.

• Exposure becomes excessive or unpleasant.

Learning depends on the full context, not merely the number of presentations.

Cultural transmission

Cultural transmission is the passing of knowledge, values and behaviour between members of a culture.

Food preferences may be transmitted:

• Vertically, from parents to children.

• Horizontally, between peers.

• Through institutions and media.

• Across generations through traditions.

Vertical transmission

A child learns from:

• Parents.

• Grandparents.

• Older relatives.

For example:

A family recipe becomes familiar through repeated meals and modelling across generations.

Horizontal transmission

Preferences spread between people in the same generation.

For example:

Friends introduce one another to foods that are popular within their group.

Social and cultural influences overlap

Social and cultural influences are related but not identical.

Social influence	Cultural influence
Comes from particular people or groups	Comes from shared practices and norms
Includes parents, siblings and peers	Includes traditions, accepted foods and meal customs
Works through modelling and reinforcement	Works through cultural exposure and transmission
May operate during one interaction	Develops through repeated participation in a culture
Example: copying a friend’s snack choice	Example: learning that a particular dish is eaten at celebrations

A parent can be both:

• A social model.

• A transmitter of cultural norms.

The same behaviour may therefore involve both explanations.

Worked example: social and cultural learning

A family regularly eats a spicy vegetable dish together. The parents enjoy it and praise the child for tasting it. The dish is also served at community celebrations.

Several mechanisms operate:

Social modelling

The child observes the parents eating the dish.

Imitation

The child copies them by tasting it.

Direct reinforcement

The child receives praise.

Classical conditioning

The dish is associated with enjoyable family and community experiences.

Cultural exposure

Repeated cultural presentation makes the dish familiar and normal.

A strong application can identify more than one process without treating them as interchangeable.

How parents can encourage healthy preferences

The AQA specimen assessment asks how parents could encourage a healthy diet using learning theory. The accepted approaches include parental or peer modelling, observation, imitation, identification, vicarious reinforcement, direct reinforcement and pleasurable classical-conditioning associations.

Model the desired behaviour

Parents can:

• Eat the food themselves.

• Show a genuine positive reaction.

• Include it in shared meals.

• Avoid contradicting their verbal message through their own behaviour.

The child observes and may imitate.

Provide vicarious reinforcement

The child may observe:

• A sibling being praised for trying the food.

• Family members enjoying the food.

• Positive social outcomes following healthy choices.

This increases motivation to imitate.

Use direct reinforcement

Parents may provide:

• Praise.

• Attention.

• Encouragement.

after the child tries a healthy food.

The consequence should be linked clearly to the target behaviour.

Create positive associations

Healthy foods can be included in:

• Relaxed family meals.

• Enjoyable cooking activities.

• Pleasant social occasions.

The food may acquire a positive conditioned association.

Use repeated exposure

Parents can provide repeated safe opportunities to encounter the food.

The aim is to increase:

• Familiarity.

• Confidence.

• Willingness to taste.

Avoid confusing availability with learned preference

Simply preventing access to another food may change immediate consumption.

It does not by itself explain how a preference for the healthier food is learned.

This was a specific weakness identified in the June 2022 examiner report. Some students described parents restricting available foods rather than explaining a learning process.

Applying learning to family meals

AQA’s 2021 question described a child who appeared to enjoy foods eaten by the whole family.

The mark scheme identifies this as social and cultural learning:

• The child observes the parents.

• The child imitates their behaviour.

• The child adopts family norms.

A developed application might state:

“Because Neela’s family eats together, her child repeatedly observes trusted models eating and enjoying the same foods. Identification with the parents may motivate imitation, while the pleasant family setting creates a positive association. The child may therefore adopt the family’s food norms.”

Worked application: direct reinforcement

Every time Amara tries a piece of fruit, her teacher praises her effort.

This is direct positive reinforcement because:

• Trying fruit is the behaviour.

• Praise is added after the behaviour.

• The pleasant consequence may increase future fruit selection.

It is not vicarious reinforcement because Amara receives the praise herself.

Worked application: vicarious reinforcement

Leo watches his older brother receive praise for trying a new vegetable.

This is vicarious reinforcement because:

• Leo observes another person’s behaviour.

• The brother receives the reward.

• Leo learns that trying the vegetable may produce approval.

• Leo becomes more motivated to imitate.

Worked application: classical conditioning

A vegetable dish is repeatedly served during enjoyable visits to a much-loved relative.

This may produce classical conditioning because:

• The relative and enjoyable visit naturally produce positive emotion.

• The dish is repeatedly paired with that experience.

• The food may later produce positive feelings and preference.

Worked application: cultural norms

Maya grows up in a community where a particular dish is eaten regularly during important celebrations.

A cultural explanation would suggest:

• The dish is repeatedly presented as socially valued.

• Trusted adults and peers model eating it.

• It becomes familiar through exposure.

• It becomes connected with belonging and celebration.

• Maya learns to prefer or value it.

Worked application: peer influence

Ben begins choosing a food after joining a friendship group in which everyone eats it at lunchtime.

Possible social-learning processes include:

• Observation of peers.

• Identification with the friendship group.

• Imitation.

• Anticipation of social acceptance.

• Repeated exposure.

Ben’s initial choice may be socially motivated, but repeated consumption may produce a genuine preference.

Worked application: advertising

An advert repeatedly shows a popular sportsperson enjoying a snack while celebrating success.

Possible processes include:

• Identification with the sportsperson.

• Observation and imitation.

• Vicarious association with success.

• Classical conditioning between the snack and positive excitement.

A full answer should identify the process rather than merely saying:

“The advert influences them.”

Learning and food avoidance

Learning explanations can account for avoidance as well as preference.

Avoidance may develop through:

• Illness association.

• Punishment.

• Observation of another person’s disgust.

• Cultural prohibition.

• Peer ridicule.

• Removal of an unpleasant food following refusal.

Observational avoidance

A child watches a parent react with disgust to a food.

The child may learn:

• The food is unpleasant.

• The trusted model avoids it.

• Avoiding it is normal.

The child may imitate the rejection without directly tasting the food.

Cultural avoidance

A culture may teach that a food is:

• Inappropriate.

• Unacceptable.

• Reserved for particular situations.

• Not part of the group’s normal diet.

The person learns the attitude through norms and exposure.

Learned preferences and food availability

Availability affects which preferences can be learned.

A person cannot become familiar with a food that is never encountered.

Families and cultures influence:

• Which foods enter the home.

• Which foods are offered repeatedly.

• Which foods are affordable.

• Which foods are celebrated.

• Which foods children observe adults eating.

Availability creates an opportunity for learning.

However, availability alone is not a complete learning mechanism.

The explanation should still identify:

• Association.

• Reinforcement.

• Modelling.

• Exposure.

Preference acquisition over time

Food learning may occur through a sequence:

1. A food becomes available.

2. The person observes trusted models eating it.

3. Initial neophobia reduces through repeated exposure.

4. The person tastes the food.

5. Pleasant flavour or social approval reinforces consumption.

6. The food becomes integrated into normal meals.

7. A stable preference develops.

This sequence combines social, cultural and associative learning.

Evaluating learning explanations

Strength: learning explains cultural differences

Human groups differ considerably in the foods and flavours they commonly enjoy.

Learning explains this because:

• Children are exposed to different diets.

• Different models are observed.

• Different foods receive approval.

• Cultural norms define different foods as acceptable.

• Repeated exposure creates familiarity.

This variation is difficult to explain using one universal innate preference alone.

Counterpoint

Cultural differences do not show that biology is irrelevant.

Different cultures may use different foods to satisfy similar evolved preferences for:

• Energy.

• Sweetness.

• Fat.

• Salt.

Learning may shape the particular food, while biology shapes a broad flavour bias.

Strength: social learning explains family similarities

Children often encounter the same meals and models as their family members.

The learning explanation predicts that they may:

• Observe parental choices.

• Imitate those choices.

• Receive similar reinforcement.

• Adopt family norms.

The 2021 AQA mark scheme uses shared family eating as a direct application of modelling and cultural learning.

Limitation: family similarity does not prove modelling

Parents and children also share:

• Genetic characteristics.

• Taste sensitivity.

• Food availability.

• Economic circumstances.

A similarity between their preferences cannot by itself establish that observation caused the child’s preference.

Research must distinguish:

• Shared learning.

• Shared biology.

• Shared access.

Strength: learning principles have practical applications

Learning explanations suggest ways to encourage dietary variety.

Parents and schools can:

• Model eating the target foods.

• Use calm praise.

• Provide repeated exposure.

• Create positive social associations.

• Use admired peers as models.

This is valuable because the explanation leads to testable interventions.

If modelling and exposure change food choices, learning is likely to play a role.

Limitation: restriction alone does not teach preference

The June 2022 examiner report noted that some answers described removing or restricting foods but did not explain how a preference was learned.

This illustrates a conceptual limitation:

• Controlling availability may alter behaviour.

• It does not necessarily create liking.

• The preferred food may be selected again when it becomes available.

Researchers should measure both:

• What was eaten.

• What was actually preferred.

Strength: conditioning can be tested scientifically

Researchers can manipulate:

• Which food is presented.

• The consequence following consumption.

• Which model is observed.

• How often exposure occurs.

They can measure:

• Amount eaten.

• Food selected.

• Ratings of liking.

• Willingness to try.

• Change over time.

This allows learning predictions to be investigated using controlled procedures.

Limitation: laboratory eating may lack ecological validity

A child’s food choice in a controlled study may differ from eating:

• At home.

• With friends.

• During celebrations.

• While under parental pressure.

• When especially hungry.

Real preferences develop within a complex social and cultural environment.

A short laboratory task may isolate one mechanism but fail to reproduce everyday eating.

Limitation: demand characteristics

Participants may work out that researchers want them to:

• Try a new food.

• Copy a model.

• Rate a food positively.

They may alter their behaviour to fit the apparent aim.

This could make learning effects appear stronger than they are during ordinary meals.

Limitation: measuring preference

Researchers may operationalise preference as:

• Choosing one food.

• Eating the largest amount.

• Reporting high liking.

• Requesting the food later.

These measures are not identical.

A participant may:

• Eat more because they are hungry.

• Choose a food because it is convenient.

• Report liking to please an adult.

• Prefer a food but eat less because they are full.

Using several measures improves confidence that a genuine preference has developed.

Limitation: classical conditioning may explain aversions better

AQA’s 2022 mark scheme explicitly identifies this as a limitation.

A food followed by severe sickness can produce a rapid and powerful aversion.

Positive preference may be more difficult to explain because it may involve:

• Repeated exposure.

• Social modelling.

• Direct reinforcement.

• Biological taste qualities.

• Cultural meaning.

Classical conditioning may therefore be one part of a positive preference rather than a complete explanation.

Limitation: learning does not explain innate preferences

People may show early preferences for:

• Sweetness.

• Energy-rich foods.

before extensive social learning has occurred.

AQA identifies the innate preference for sweetness as a limitation of a learning-only explanation.

This suggests that experience does not begin with a completely blank food-preference system.

Evolutionary alternative

The evolutionary account of sweetness, fat and avoidance proposes that some broad preferences developed because they increased ancestral survival.

Learning then shapes how these predispositions appear in a particular environment.

Limitation: learning may be environmentally reductionist

A learning explanation may reduce food preference to:

• Stimulus associations.

• Reinforcement.

• Observed models.

This can overlook:

• Taste receptors.

• Hunger and satiety.

• Genetic sensitivity.

• Hormonal control.

• Neural mechanisms.

• Conscious values.

• Economic access.

Food preference is complex and may not be fully explained through learned stimulus-

response relationships.

Value of reductionism

Breaking food learning into observable processes allows psychologists to:

• Define clear variables.

• Conduct controlled investigations.

• Develop practical interventions.

• Predict how preferences might change.

The limitation arises when learning is treated as the only influence.

Environmental determinism

A strict learning account may imply that environmental experience determines food preferences.

For example:

Parental reinforcement produces the child’s preferences.

This is too strong because:

• Children exposed to the same family may differ.

• Biological sensitivity varies.

• People can reject family norms.

• Individual thoughts and choices matter.

• Similar modelling does not always produce imitation.

The explanation is more convincing when expressed probabilistically:

Reinforcement and modelling increase the likelihood of a preference developing.

Individual differences

People respond differently to the same learning experience.

One child may imitate a parent immediately.

Another may not because:

• They do not identify with the model.

• The food produces a strong aversive taste.

• Another peer model is more influential.

• Previous illness created an aversion.

• Their attention or motivation differs.

Social learning theory partly addresses this through mediational processes.

Learning is influenced by how the observer interprets the model and consequence.

Culture is not a single cause

A statement such as:

“They like the food because of culture.”

is too vague.

A developed cultural explanation should identify how culture operates, for example:

• Repeated exposure.

• Parental modelling.

• Cultural approval.

• Celebration.

• Social identity.

• Normalisation.

Culture is the context in which specific learning processes occur.

Social learning can explain change

An advantage of learning explanations is that they can account for preferences changing across a person’s life.

A person may:

• Enter a new peer group.

• Move to a different cultural environment.

• Encounter unfamiliar cuisine.

• Develop new positive associations.

• Observe new models.

• Experience illness after eating a food.

Their preferences may change because experience changes.

A fixed biological account may find this flexibility harder to explain on its own.

Learning and the nature-nurture debate

Nurture

Learning explanations emphasise:

• Experience.

• Environment.

• Social models.

• Reinforcement.

• Cultural exposure.

Nature

Evolutionary and biological explanations emphasise:

• Inherited taste systems.

• Prepared preferences.

• Neural processes.

• Hormonal influences.

The AQA mark scheme concludes that complex food behaviour probably involves multiple influences rather than one explanation alone.

Interactionist conclusion

A balanced account is:

inherited predisposition + learning opportunity + social and cultural experience → individual food preference

For example:

• A broad attraction to sweetness may be inherited.

• A culture determines which sweet foods are familiar.

• Parents model when they are eaten.

• Reinforcement affects whether the child requests them.

• Personal experience determines whether an aversion develops.

Learning, hunger and biological control

Learning explains what foods a person may choose.

It does not fully explain when eating begins or ends.

The timing and amount of eating are also affected by:

• the hypothalamus and neural systems 

• ghrelin and leptin

A person may learn to prefer a food but not choose it when full.

Similarly, hunger may motivate eating without determining which available food is preferred.

Learning and obesity

Learned preferences may contribute to eating patterns associated with weight gain, but they are not identical to a full explanation of obesity.

Later content considers:

• genetic and neural influences on obesity 

• restraint and disinhibited eating 

A student should avoid jumping from:

“The person prefers an energy-dense food.”

to:

“The person will develop obesity.”

Body weight depends on many interacting factors.

Learning and anorexia nervosa

Social learning also appears later as an explanation of anorexia nervosa.

That lesson focuses on:

• Modelling.

• Reinforcement.

• Media influences.

in relation to restrictive eating and body-related behaviour.

The present lesson concerns food preferences more generally.

The later application is covered in modelling, reinforcement and media influences.

Ethical and social considerations

Learning explanations can be useful, but they may lead to blame.

Parent blame

A simplistic conclusion might be:

“Children have unhealthy preferences because their parents modelled them badly.”

This overlooks:

• Biology.

• Food affordability.

• Availability.

• Time pressures.

• Cultural traditions.

• Advertising.

• Peer influence.

• Individual differences.

Parents can influence food learning without being the sole cause.

Cultural judgement

Researchers should avoid describing unfamiliar cultural diets as:

• Abnormal.

• Inferior.

• Irrational.

Cultural difference demonstrates that preference is learned within context.

The relevant question is not whether a diet resembles the researcher’s own norm.

It is how cultural exposure and social meaning shape preference.

Researching parental influence

Observation

Researchers may observe:

• What parents eat.

• What children select.

• How parents respond to refusal.

• Whether praise or pressure occurs.

Strength

Behaviour is measured directly.

Limitation

Families may change their eating because they know they are observed.

Questionnaire

Parents and children may report:

• Foods they like.

• Family meal frequency.

• Reinforcement strategies.

• Cultural practices.

Strength

Large amounts of information can be collected efficiently.

Limitation

Participants may give socially desirable answers.

Experiment

Researchers might manipulate:

• Whether a model eats a target food.

• Whether praise follows tasting.

• Number of exposures.

Strength

Control supports causal conclusions.

Limitation

The setting may not resemble ordinary family meals.

Researching cultural influence

A cross-cultural investigation may compare food preferences between groups.

Possible strength

Differences between groups can demonstrate that one universal preference does not explain every choice.

Possible limitation

Cultures may differ in many ways, including:

• Availability.

• Income.

• Climate.

• Religion.

• Advertising.

• Meal structure.

Researchers cannot assume that a preference difference was produced by one cultural norm alone.

Applying learning explanations in examinations

Step 1: identify the behaviour

Is the person:

• Choosing a food?

• Avoiding it?

• Trying it after watching another person?

• Repeating a choice after praise?

• Eating a culturally familiar meal?

Step 2: identify the learning process

Scenario clue	Likely process
Food paired with an enjoyable event	Classical conditioning
Person receives praise after eating	Direct positive reinforcement
Refusal removes an unwanted food	Negative reinforcement
Person watches a parent eat	Observation and modelling
Person copies the parent	Imitation
Observer watches another person receive praise	Vicarious reinforcement
Person wants to be like an admired model	Identification
Food is repeatedly eaten within a culture	Cultural learning and exposure
Unfamiliar food becomes accepted over time	Exposure hypothesis

Step 3: explain the mechanism

Do not merely name the process.

Weak:

“This is modelling.”

Stronger:

“The child observes trusted family members eating and enjoying the dish. Identification with the parents motivates imitation, and repeated consumption may produce a learned preference.”

Step 4: use the scenario

Refer directly to:

• The person.

• The model.

• The food.

• The consequence.

• The cultural practice.

Step 5: distinguish behaviour from preference

Explain whether:

• The person genuinely learns to like the food.

• Consumption merely increases temporarily.

• Social pressure could explain the behaviour.

Application formula

Use:

scenario detail → learning process → consequence or association → future preference

Example:

“Zara’s mother eats the new vegetable and receives praise from another family member. Zara observes the positive consequence, so vicarious reinforcement may motivate her to imitate her mother. Repeated safe consumption could then increase familiarity and establish a preference.”

How to apply classical conditioning

Use:

food + naturally pleasant experience → association → food produces positive response

Example:

“The soup is repeatedly eaten during enjoyable visits to Kai’s grandparents. The positive emotion produced by the visits becomes associated with the soup, so the flavour may eventually produce a conditioned positive response.”

How to apply operant conditioning

Use:

behaviour → consequence → behaviour becomes more or less likely

Example:

“When Ava tastes fruit, her parent praises her. Praise is positive reinforcement, so tasting and selecting fruit may become more likely.”

How to apply social learning

Use:

model observed → model’s behaviour or reward noticed → imitation → learned preference

Example:

“Sam watches his friends eat and enjoy the dish. Because he identifies with the peer group, he is motivated to imitate their choice, increasing his exposure and possible liking.”

How to apply cultural influence

Use:

cultural norm or repeated exposure → food becomes familiar and valued → preference develops

Example:

“The dish is served at every community celebration, so it becomes associated with positive social occasions and cultural belonging. Repeated exposure also makes its flavour familiar.”

Structuring a six-mark answer

The June 2022 question asked students to:

outline the role of learning in food preference and outline one limitation

The marks were divided evenly:

• AO1: 3 marks

• AO3: 3 marks 

A useful structure is:

AO1

1. State that preferences are acquired through experience.

2. Explain one or two learning mechanisms.

3. Give a food-specific example.

AO3

1. Identify one limitation.

2. Explain why it weakens a learning-only account.

3. Reach a balanced conclusion.

Example answer structure

“Food preferences can be learned through social learning. Children observe models such as parents and may imitate the foods they eat, particularly when they identify with them. Seeing a sibling praised for eating vegetables may provide vicarious reinforcement. However, learning cannot explain all preferences because people show early attraction to sweetness before extensive social experience. An evolutionary predisposition may therefore provide a biological starting point that learning later modifies.”

Structuring a 16-mark essay

A 2021 AQA question asked students to describe and evaluate two explanations of food preference and apply them to a family scenario. The mark allocation was:

• AO1: 6 marks

• AO2: 4 marks

• AO3: 6 marks 

A learning-focused section could follow this structure.

Paragraph 1: general learning explanation

• Preferences acquired through experience.

• Association and social environment.

• Distinguish learning from innate preference.

Paragraph 2: classical conditioning

• Neutral food paired with pleasure.

• Conditioned preference.

• Food aversion as a related process.

Paragraph 3: operant conditioning

• Direct reinforcement.

• Positive and negative reinforcement.

• Food-specific example.

Paragraph 4: social learning

• Observation.

• Modelling.

• Imitation.

• Identification.

• Vicarious reinforcement.

Paragraph 5: culture and exposure

• Cultural norms.

• Family meals.

• Repeated exposure.

• Cultural differences.

Paragraph 6: application

• Apply separate scenario details to separate mechanisms.

• Avoid repeating the stem without explanation.

Paragraph 7: evaluation

• Innate preferences.

• Evolutionary explanation.

• Cultural differences.

• Practical application.

• Reductionism.

• Interactionist conclusion.

Overall conclusion

Learning explanations propose that food preferences are acquired through experience.

• Classical conditioning explains how foods become associated with positive or negative experiences.

• Operant conditioning explains how consequences such as praise make food-related behaviour more likely.

• Social learning explains how people observe and imitate parents, peers and other models.

• Vicarious reinforcement explains how watching another person receive a reward can influence choice.

• Cultural learning explains why different groups develop different norms, meals and flavour preferences.

• Repeated exposure can reduce unfamiliarity and increase acceptance.

The account is supported by its ability to explain:

• Family similarities.

• Cultural differences.

• Changing preferences.

• The effects of modelling and reinforcement.

• Practical ways of encouraging dietary variety.

However, learning alone cannot explain:

• Early preference for sweetness.

• Attraction to energy-rich food.

• Biological taste sensitivity.

• Every individual difference.

The strongest conclusion is interactionist:

Evolution and biology provide broad predispositions, while conditioning, social models and cultural experience shape the particular foods people learn to prefer.

Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡

Examiner hint: Keep your answer about learning.

The June 2022 examiner report found that some students discussed parents restricting which foods were available. This did not explain how a preference was learned.

Use terms such as:

• Association.

• Reinforcement.

• Observation.

• Imitation.

• Modelling.

• Exposure.

Examiner hint: Restricting consumption is not the same as changing preference.

A child may eat a food because no alternative is available without learning to like it.

Examiner hint: Explain the complete operant-conditioning sequence.

Weak:

“The child is rewarded.”

Stronger:

“The child receives praise after trying the vegetable. Praise is positive reinforcement, so trying and selecting the vegetable becomes more likely.”

Examiner hint: Distinguish direct and vicarious reinforcement.

• Direct reinforcement: the observer receives the reward.

• Vicarious reinforcement: the observer watches someone else receive it.

Examiner hint: Do not write only that children copy parents.

Explain:

1. The parent acts as a model.

2. The child observes the food choice.

3. Identification increases motivation.

4. The child imitates.

5. Exposure or reinforcement helps establish the preference.

Examiner hint: Eating as a family is a strong application clue.

The 2021 mark scheme links family eating with observation, imitation, modelling and adoption of family norms.

Examiner hint: Culture must be explained through a process.

Do not stop at:

“Different cultures like different food.”

Explain how cultural norms and repeated exposure make particular foods familiar, valued and socially accepted.

Examiner hint: Classical conditioning needs two associated events.

State:

• The food.

• The pleasant or unpleasant stimulus.

• The response.

• How the food later produces the learned response.

Examiner hint: AQA accepts the exposure hypothesis as part of cultural learning. Use it to explain how repeated safe contact can reduce unfamiliarity and increase liking.

Examiner hint: Match the mark allocation.

The June 2022 six-mark question split marks evenly between:

• Learning explanation.

• One limitation.

A detailed description with a one-line evaluation would be unbalanced.

Examiner hint: Compare learning with evolution carefully.

A useful conclusion is:

“Evolution may explain broad attraction to sweetness or fat, whereas learning explains why particular families and cultures prefer particular foods.”

Common Mistakes ⚠️

Mistake: Saying learning means being taught facts about nutrition

Why this is incomplete:

Learning also includes conditioning, modelling and exposure.

How to improve:

Identify the psychological process changing preference.

Mistake: Saying food availability automatically creates preference

Why this is incorrect:

Availability creates the opportunity to eat but does not guarantee liking.

How to improve:

Explain the association, reinforcement or modelling that follows.

Mistake: Saying parents create preferences only by buying food

Why this is incomplete:

Parents also act as models and sources of reinforcement.

How to improve:

Explain what the child observes and learns.

Mistake: Describing restriction instead of learning

Why this loses marks:

Removing one food may reduce immediate consumption without changing preference.

How to improve:

Refer to modelling, reinforcement or exposure.

Mistake: Saying classical conditioning is learning from rewards

Why this is incorrect:

That describes operant conditioning.

How to improve:

Classical conditioning involves association between stimuli.

Mistake: Saying operant conditioning pairs two stimuli

Why this is incorrect:

Operant conditioning associates behaviour with its consequences.

How to improve:

Use:

behaviour → consequence → future behaviour

Mistake: Saying positive reinforcement means good behaviour

Why this is incorrect:

Positive means a stimulus is added.

How to improve:

State how the consequence increases behaviour.

Mistake: Saying negative reinforcement is punishment

Why this is incorrect:

Negative reinforcement increases behaviour by removing something unpleasant.

How to improve:

Explain what is removed and which behaviour increases.

Mistake: Calling praise a primary reinforcer

Why this is usually inaccurate:

Praise acquires value socially.

How to improve:

Describe praise as a secondary reinforcer.

Mistake: Saying vicarious reinforcement means receiving a reward later

Why this is incorrect:

It involves observing another person being rewarded.

How to improve:

Identify the model, reward and observing learner.

Mistake: Treating modelling and imitation as identical

Why this is imprecise:

Modelling is demonstrating behaviour. Imitation is copying it.

How to improve:

Use both stages correctly.

Mistake: Saying social learning is automatic

Why this is incorrect:

Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation affect whether imitation occurs.

How to improve:

Explain at least one mediational process where relevant.

Mistake: Saying children imitate every adult equally

Why this is inaccurate:

Identification, status and similarity affect model influence.

How to improve:

Explain why the particular model matters.

Mistake: Saying culture biologically changes a person’s taste receptors

Why this is incorrect:

Cultural influence operates through norms, modelling and exposure.

How to improve:

Explain the environmental learning process.

Mistake: Defining cultural influence as nationality

Why this is too narrow:

Culture refers to shared values, practices and norms.

How to improve:

Discuss traditions, accepted foods and repeated exposure.

Mistake: Treating everyone within one culture as identical

Why this is inaccurate:

Individual and family differences remain.

How to improve:

Use probabilistic language.

Mistake: Saying repeated exposure always creates liking

Why this is too strong:

The food may remain aversive or become associated with pressure or illness.

How to improve:

State that exposure can increase familiarity and the likelihood of acceptance.

Mistake: Ignoring innate preferences

Why this weakens evaluation:

Early attraction to sweetness is difficult to explain through experience alone.

How to improve:

Compare learning with evolutionary explanations.

Mistake: Saying learning and evolution cannot both be correct

Why this is inaccurate:

Evolution can provide broad biases while learning shapes particular choices.

How to improve:

Use an interactionist conclusion.

Mistake: Giving a generic evaluation point

Why this is incomplete:

“The study lacks ecological validity” needs a consequence.

How to improve:

Explain why behaviour in a laboratory may not represent eating during real family or cultural meals.

Exam-Style Questions ✍️

Questions

1. What is meant by a learned food preference?[2 marks]

2. Explain how classical conditioning may produce a food preference.[4 marks]

3. Explain how direct reinforcement may influence a child’s food preference.[4 marks]

4. Explain the difference between direct and vicarious reinforcement using a food-related example.[4 marks]

5. Explain how social learning may influence food preference.[4 marks]

6. Explain one way in which peers may influence food choice.[4 marks]

7. Explain how cultural norms can lead to cultural differences in food preferences.[4 marks]

8. Explain the exposure hypothesis in relation to food preferences.[3 marks]

9. Zoya’s parents regularly eat vegetables and talk positively about them. When Zoya tries a vegetable, her parents praise her.

Explain Zoya’s developing preference using two learning processes.[6 marks]

10. Dylan begins choosing a new lunch after seeing his friends eat it and receive approving comments from other students.

Explain Dylan’s behaviour using social learning theory.[4 marks]

11. Discuss learning explanations of food preferences. Refer to the following scenario in your answer.

Asha’s family regularly eats a spicy vegetable dish during enjoyable celebrations. Her parents and older sister all enjoy it. At first, Asha refuses the dish, but her sister receives praise for eating it. Asha eventually copies her sister and is praised as well. When Asha starts secondary school, she also begins choosing snacks that are popular with her new friends.

[16 marks]

Answers and Mark Scheme

Question 1

Award up to two marks:

• A learned food preference is a liking, selection or avoidance acquired through experience.

• It may develop through conditioning, observation, reinforcement or cultural exposure.

Question 2

Award up to four marks:

• A food may initially be a neutral stimulus.

• It is repeatedly paired with a pleasant unconditioned stimulus, such as enjoyable family attention.

• The pleasant event naturally produces a positive emotional response.

• The food becomes a conditioned stimulus.

• It later produces a conditioned positive response or preference even when the original pleasant event is absent.

Question 3

Award up to four marks:

• The child performs a food-related behaviour, such as tasting a vegetable.

• A pleasant consequence, such as praise, follows.

• Praise is positive reinforcement.

• Reinforcement increases the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated.

• Repeated tasting may increase familiarity and preference.

Question 4

Award up to four marks:

• Direct reinforcement occurs when the person performing the behaviour receives the reward.

• For example, Mila is praised after eating fruit.

• Vicarious reinforcement occurs when an observer watches another person receive a reward.

• For example, Mila watches her sibling receive praise for eating fruit and becomes motivated to imitate.

Question 5

Award up to four marks:

• A person observes a model selecting and enjoying a food.

• The observer may identify with the model.

• The observer imitates the food choice.

• Seeing the model rewarded may provide vicarious reinforcement.

• Repeated tasting and positive consequences may establish a preference.

Question 6

Award up to four marks:

• Peers provide social models.

• A person may identify with the friendship group.

• They may imitate the foods selected by friends.

• Approval or acceptance may reinforce the choice.

• Repeated exposure may produce a lasting preference.

Question 7

Award up to four marks:

• Cultures establish shared norms about acceptable and valued foods.

• Children observe relatives and other members of the culture following these norms.

• Repeated cultural exposure makes the foods familiar.

• Positive occasions may become associated with the foods.

• Different cultural experiences therefore produce different learned likes and dislikes.

Question 8

Award up to three marks:

• The exposure hypothesis proposes that repeated exposure increases familiarity.

• Familiar food is likely to appear safer or less threatening than unfamiliar food.

• Repeated safe exposure may therefore reduce avoidance and increase acceptance or liking.

Question 9

Award up to six marks.

Social learning:

• Zoya observes her parents eating vegetables.

• The parents act as models.

• Their positive comments demonstrate approval or enjoyment.

• Zoya may identify with them and imitate their choices.

Operant conditioning:

• Zoya receives praise after tasting a vegetable.

• Praise is direct positive reinforcement.

• Trying or selecting vegetables becomes more likely.

• Repeated consumption may establish preference.

Question 10

Award up to four marks:

• Dylan’s friends are peer models.

• He observes them selecting the lunch.

• The approving comments provide vicarious reinforcement.

• Identification with the group motivates imitation.

• Dylan copies the rewarded food choice.

Question 11

A strong response should include:

Knowledge and understanding

• Food preferences as acquired through experience.

• Classical conditioning.

• Unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and responses.

• Operant conditioning.

• Direct positive reinforcement.

• Social learning.

• Observation.

• Modelling.

• Imitation.

• Identification.

• Vicarious reinforcement.

• Mediational processes.

• Cultural norms.

• Cultural transmission.

• Exposure hypothesis.

• Familiarity and reduced neophobia.

Application

• The spicy dish is repeatedly served within Asha’s family culture.

• Celebrations provide a positive association through classical conditioning.

• Parents and sister act as models.

• Asha observes them eating and enjoying the dish.

• Her older sister may be an identification model.

• Praise given to the sister is vicarious reinforcement.

• Asha imitates her sister by tasting the food.

• Praise given directly to Asha is positive reinforcement.

• Repeated exposure reduces unfamiliarity.

• New school friends become peer models.

• Popular snacks provide social approval or group acceptance.

• Asha may imitate peer preferences to identify with the group.

Evaluation

• Learning explains why preferences differ between families and cultures.

• The account explains how preferences change through new social experiences.

• Modelling and reinforcement have practical applications.

• Classical conditioning explains emotional associations with food.

• Controlled learning research can investigate cause and effect.

• Choosing a food does not always show genuine preference.

• Laboratory studies may lack ecological validity.

• Demand characteristics may influence food choice.

• Family similarity may reflect shared genes and availability as well as modelling.

• Learning does not explain innate attraction to sweetness.

• Evolutionary explanations account for some broad flavour preferences.

• Classical conditioning may explain aversions better than positive preferences.

• The explanation may be environmentally reductionist.

• Individuals exposed to the same models do not always develop the same preferences.

• An interactionist account combining biological biases with social and cultural learning is more complete.

Higher-level responses will identify separate learning mechanisms within the scenario, use specialist terminology accurately and distinguish learned food consumption from evidence of a lasting preference.