Why We Like the Foods We Like (SOP86)

From keystroke trackers and webcam monitoring to GPS devices, an increasing number of us -- across a wide range of jobs -- are being monitored while we work. Tara Behrend, PhD, discusses why employers use these tools; how constant monitoring changes workers’ behavior and attentio ...  Show more

From the idea that we only use 10% of our brains to the belief that each of us has an optimal learning style that helps us learn best, many popular “facts” about human behavior aren’t actually true. Yet they persist, even among students who have studied psychology. Erin Smith, Ph ...  Show more

Social psychologist and weight-stigma researcher Jeffrey Hunger joins us to discuss why we can’t fight weight stigma while also advocating for weight loss, how “wellness” has been co-opted by diet culture (aka The Wellness Diet), why we need to do more than just tell people “diet ...  Show more

What makes fad diets so appealing to so many people? And how did these fads become so central to conversations about food and nutrition? Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall for Fad Diets (Columbia University Press, 2022) shows that fad diets are popular because they fulfill crucial socia ...  Show more

Why do we like to eat certain foods? Why do some people like to eat spicy food? And what's up with kids not liking vegetables? Why does pineapple hurt your mouth when you eat too much of it? Why do we taste things and how? Why do different foods taste different? Do animals hav ...

Social psychologist and weight-stigma researcher Jeffrey Hunger joins us to discuss why we can’t fight weight stigma while also advocating for weight loss, how “wellness” has been co-opted by diet culture (aka The Wellness Diet), why we need to do more than just tell people “diet ...  Show more