Food psychology

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Food psychology is the psychological study of how people choose the food they eat (food choice), along with food and eating behaviors.^[1] Food psychology is an applied psychology, using existing psychological methods and findings to understand food choice and eating behaviors.^[2] Factors studied by food psychology include food cravings, sensory experiences of food, perceptions of food security and food safety, price, available product information such as nutrition labeling and the purchasing environment (which may be physical or online). Food psychology also encompasses broader sociocultural factors such as cultural perspectives on food,^[3] public awareness of "what constitutes a sustainable diet",^[4] and food marketing including "food fraud" where ingredients are intentionally motivated for economic gain as opposed to nutritional value.^[5][6] These factors are considered to interact with each other along with an individual's history of food choices to form new food choices and eating behaviors.^[5]

The development of food choice is considered to fall into three main categories: properties of the food, individual differences and sociocultural influences.^[1][7] Food psychology studies psychological aspects of individual differences, although due to the interaction between factors and the variance in definitions, food psychology is often studied alongside other aspects of food choice including nutrition psychology.^[7]

As of 2022^[update], there are no specific journals for food psychology, with research being published in both nutrition and psychology journals.^[4][8]

Eating behaviors which are analysed by food psychology include disordered eating, behavior associated with food neophobia, and the public broadcasting/streaming of eating (mukbang).^[9][10][11] Food psychology has been studied extensively using theories of cognitive dissonance and fallacious reasoning.^[9][12]