t***@yahoo.co.uk
2004-12-27 00:35:45 UTC
Hello everyone,
I will be doing a presentation on "Eating Behaviour and Evolution" for
my "theories of psychology" course, I'm also writing a paper on the
subject.
I would really apreciate some help with finding information. There is a
lot of information around but it is spread all over a big number of
articles on unrelated topics. I could not find a "core" material that I
could work on. I guess I am also having some trouble with keeping close
to the psychological side of the question; moreover I have little
knowledge of the prior theories on the topic.
I'm interested mainly in the way the role of eating changed with the
evolution of humanity (i.e. how it acquired an increasingly more
important social role, how its social role has changed). I'm as well
interested in the psychological aspects of the evolution of eating
within the life of the individual [ontogenetic], (for example: how
breast-feeding patterns, early or late weaning affect the later life of
the individual).
I will be thankful for any ideas, suggestions, information, sources of
information, even personal opinions that you would submit. Mentions of
any previous studies on the topic, as well as suggestions of directions
to which I could direct my attention will be especially welcome.
If you have the time you can take a look at the topics on which I have
concentrated my efforts till now, so that you can get a better
understanding of what I am looking for:
------------------------------------------------------------
(the items bulleted with +++ are the subjects on which I need the
information most badly. These are new ideas that are likely to be
productive and that I haven't managed to look through yet)
----eating in primitive and modern societies: differences and
similarities. Are food rituals a thing of the past?
----rituals associated with eating: food sacrifice in primitive
communities, feasts in Middle Ages, divinization of food etc.
----how eating patterns influenced the domination of males or females
in social life, accordingly relative weight of dif. values and the
development of the society as a whole (cultivating--matriarchy,
hunting--patriarchy)
+++relatedly Fritz's theory on armoured, unarmoured cultures. do eating
patterns (determined by natural conditions or other things) contribute
to a culture's developing one way or the other, and respectively to the
ability of a culture to survive competition with nearby cultures?
----cooking and sex-differences today: how women's cooking is perceived
in the West. Cooking as a "subordinate" feminine role. Feminist view on
women's cooking: 'it's not -our- role'; the "macho" reaction: 'don't
exaggerate'. How cooking developed from a feminine role to a feminine
compulsion. the "subordinate" tag. why feminism tacitly accepts it?
internalizing the dominant group's values instead of stating the
equivalence of these values to their own?
----how cooking developed. evolutionary role of cooking (using fire,
cooking killed prey)
+++Eating out: the social role of eating today. Is it a "ritual"? what
is the link between eating and mating anyway???
+++Eating behaviour and acceptance: table manners as a sign of
belongingness to a social class. Acceptance to and exclusion from a
group based on eating habits (table manners and the like). How such a
role of eating evolved.
+++"Elite" eating communities, "elite" eating behaviour, status based
on eating habits or tasting skills. For example: knowing names and
tastes of elite food, eating in elite restaurants, wine experts (only a
wine expert can tell the difference between an authentic old wine and a
fake. arguably the difference in taste is not so big, unlike the
difference in price!). food as luxury ,food and showing off. Any
parallels in primitive comunities???
+++Taboos in eating, origin. Typical structure of such taboos: based on
value judgements. What is their evolutionary role??? Can vegetarianism
in the West be seen in such a light?
+++Relevant parallels of human eating habits with those of (other)
animals.
+++food myths and how a culture's values is reflected in them
Clearly not all these topics will be included in my paper. I'm thinking
of preserving the threads that will prove relevant after searching for
information. I'm pretty confused yet. I have indicated the direction of
my thought on many topics. discussions on these will also be
appreciated.
Thank you.
The Bespelled
'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
sci.psychology.research is a moderated newsgroup.
Before submitting an article, please read the guidelines which are posted
here bimonthly or the charter on the web at http://psychcentral.com/spr/
Submissions are acknowledged automatically.
I will be doing a presentation on "Eating Behaviour and Evolution" for
my "theories of psychology" course, I'm also writing a paper on the
subject.
I would really apreciate some help with finding information. There is a
lot of information around but it is spread all over a big number of
articles on unrelated topics. I could not find a "core" material that I
could work on. I guess I am also having some trouble with keeping close
to the psychological side of the question; moreover I have little
knowledge of the prior theories on the topic.
I'm interested mainly in the way the role of eating changed with the
evolution of humanity (i.e. how it acquired an increasingly more
important social role, how its social role has changed). I'm as well
interested in the psychological aspects of the evolution of eating
within the life of the individual [ontogenetic], (for example: how
breast-feeding patterns, early or late weaning affect the later life of
the individual).
I will be thankful for any ideas, suggestions, information, sources of
information, even personal opinions that you would submit. Mentions of
any previous studies on the topic, as well as suggestions of directions
to which I could direct my attention will be especially welcome.
If you have the time you can take a look at the topics on which I have
concentrated my efforts till now, so that you can get a better
understanding of what I am looking for:
------------------------------------------------------------
(the items bulleted with +++ are the subjects on which I need the
information most badly. These are new ideas that are likely to be
productive and that I haven't managed to look through yet)
----eating in primitive and modern societies: differences and
similarities. Are food rituals a thing of the past?
----rituals associated with eating: food sacrifice in primitive
communities, feasts in Middle Ages, divinization of food etc.
----how eating patterns influenced the domination of males or females
in social life, accordingly relative weight of dif. values and the
development of the society as a whole (cultivating--matriarchy,
hunting--patriarchy)
+++relatedly Fritz's theory on armoured, unarmoured cultures. do eating
patterns (determined by natural conditions or other things) contribute
to a culture's developing one way or the other, and respectively to the
ability of a culture to survive competition with nearby cultures?
----cooking and sex-differences today: how women's cooking is perceived
in the West. Cooking as a "subordinate" feminine role. Feminist view on
women's cooking: 'it's not -our- role'; the "macho" reaction: 'don't
exaggerate'. How cooking developed from a feminine role to a feminine
compulsion. the "subordinate" tag. why feminism tacitly accepts it?
internalizing the dominant group's values instead of stating the
equivalence of these values to their own?
----how cooking developed. evolutionary role of cooking (using fire,
cooking killed prey)
+++Eating out: the social role of eating today. Is it a "ritual"? what
is the link between eating and mating anyway???
+++Eating behaviour and acceptance: table manners as a sign of
belongingness to a social class. Acceptance to and exclusion from a
group based on eating habits (table manners and the like). How such a
role of eating evolved.
+++"Elite" eating communities, "elite" eating behaviour, status based
on eating habits or tasting skills. For example: knowing names and
tastes of elite food, eating in elite restaurants, wine experts (only a
wine expert can tell the difference between an authentic old wine and a
fake. arguably the difference in taste is not so big, unlike the
difference in price!). food as luxury ,food and showing off. Any
parallels in primitive comunities???
+++Taboos in eating, origin. Typical structure of such taboos: based on
value judgements. What is their evolutionary role??? Can vegetarianism
in the West be seen in such a light?
+++Relevant parallels of human eating habits with those of (other)
animals.
+++food myths and how a culture's values is reflected in them
Clearly not all these topics will be included in my paper. I'm thinking
of preserving the threads that will prove relevant after searching for
information. I'm pretty confused yet. I have indicated the direction of
my thought on many topics. discussions on these will also be
appreciated.
Thank you.
The Bespelled
'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
sci.psychology.research is a moderated newsgroup.
Before submitting an article, please read the guidelines which are posted
here bimonthly or the charter on the web at http://psychcentral.com/spr/
Submissions are acknowledged automatically.