FOOD STIMULI AND GENDER

7

main reasons for food choices. However, these choices can be influenced by social aspects,
gender, education, and advertising (Schröder, 2003).
External factors such as temperature, visual cues, and smell also affect hunger and
satiety (Kraly & Blass, 1976; Logue, 2014) and are largely involved in food choice. Imram
(1999) nicely describes the relationship of visual cues and preferences as he states: “First
taste is almost always with the eye” (Imram, 1999). In Section 2.1.3, an overview of the
process involved between visual stimuli and behavioral response is provided.
Wądołowska et al. (2008) have summarized an analysis of Poles’ food choices and
the interaction between food preferences, food intake and sociodemographic features in the
following figure.

Figure 2: Food Choice Factors and Relationships (Wądołowska et al., 2008)

This figure illustrates how food preferences are influenced by many factors that
finally lead to food choices and dietary intake.
As previously mentioned, gender differences have been reported in relation to food
choices. In the following section, some known gender differences in eating behaviors are
described.