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MODULE 34 PREVIEW
Hunger seems to originate from changes in glucose and insulin levels that are monitored by the
hypothalamus. To maintain a set-point weight the body also adjusts its basal metabolic rate. Culture
affects tastes, and the sight and smell of food can trigger hunger. Psychological influences on eating
behavior are most evident in those who are motivated to be abnormally thin.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
1. To discuss the basis of hunger.
2. To describe the major eating disorders.
MODULE GUIDE
The Physiology of Hunger
1. Describe the physiological determinants of hunger.
Although the stomach’s pangs contribute to hunger, variations in body chemistry are more important.
We are likely to feel hungry when our glucose levels are low. This information is integrated by the
hypothalamus, which regulates the body’s weight as it influences our feelings of hunger and satiety. To
maintain its set-point weight, the body also adjusts its basal metabolic rate of energy expenditure.
PsychSim: Hunger and the Fat Rat
PsychQuest: How Do We Control How Much We Eat?
Film: The Psychology of Eating
The Psychology of Hunger
2. Discuss the impact of external incentives and culture on hunger.
External incentives, such as the sight and smell of food, can trigger hunger and eating, in part by
stimulating a rise in insulin level. Although some food preferences are genetic, culture also affects taste.
For example, most North Americans shun dog, rat, and horse meat, all of which are prized elsewhere,
but welcome beef, which Hindus wouldn’t think of eating. With repeated exposure, our appreciation for
a new taste typically increases, and exposure to one set of novel foods increases willingness to try
another.
Lectures: Taste Preferences—Learned and Genetic; Body Image Survey Results
Exercise: A Survey of Eating Habits
3. Describe the symptoms of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which a normal-weight person (usually an adolescent female)
diets to become significantly (15 percent or more) underweight, yet feels fat and is obsessed with losing
weight.
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by private, “binge-purge” episodes of overeating,
usually of high-caloric foods, followed by vomiting or laxative use.
Film/Video: Anorexia and Bulimia; Recovering Bodies:Overcoming Eating Disorders; Slim Hopes—Advertising and the
Obsession with Thinness