Elsevier

Appetite

Volume 112, 1 May 2017, Pages 96-101
Appetite

Portion size tells who I am, food type tells who you are: Specific functions of amount and type of food in same- and opposite-sex dyadic eating contexts

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2017.01.019Get rights and content

Abstract

Previous research has shown that women eating small portions of food (vs. eating big portions) are perceived as more feminine, whereas men eating large portions are perceived as more masculine. The specific type of food items have also been shown to carry connotations for gender stereotyping. In addition, matching the co-eater's food quantity is also a means to ingratiate him or her. Thus, a potential motivational conflict between gender identity expression and ingratiation arises when people eat in opposite-sex dyads. Scholars have, thus far, focused their attention on one of these two dimensions at a time, and rarely in relation to the co-eaters’ sex. The present study investigated, through a restaurant scenario, the way in which women and men, when asked to imagine having lunch in dyads, combine food choice and quantity regulation as a function of the co-eater's sex. Results showed that participants use the quantity dimension to communicate gender identity, and the food type dimension to ingratiate the co-eater's preferences by matching her/his presumed choice, following gender-based stereotypes about food. In opposite-sex dyads, dishes that incorporate the two dimensions were chosen above the expected frequency.

Section snippets

Food amount

In the epic 20th century movie Gone with the wind, the iconic female lead Scarlett is advised by Mammy to eat like a bird when it comes to having dinner with Mr Wilkes, as befits a lady. That food amount suppression could be a matter of femininity display is a piece of folk wisdom that received empirical support in scientific literature. Indeed, different studies documented that eating little elicits a feminine impression (Chaiken and Pliner, 1987, Pliner and Chaiken, 1990). The association

Food type

Food type also conveys femininity or masculinity (Sobal, 2005). A great deal of research has examined the so-called gender-stereotyped foods present in every culture (e.g., Counihan and Kaplan, 2004). This line of study showed that red meat is widely perceived as the prototypical food for men, whereas vegetables, dairy products, fish, fruit and sweets are generally considered feminine foods (O’Doherty Jensen & Holm, 1999). As other gender role expectations, men and women learn in the course of

The present research

Examining the literature on the psychological functions covered by food regulation and food choice in terms of gender identity expression and ingratiation, a motivational conflict appears as a potential outcome of eating in opposite-sex dyads. Indeed, when a person eats with an opposite-sex partner, the motivation to model the presumed other's choice is at odds with the motivation to express one's own gender identity (i.e. making gender-congruent choices). The question of whether individuals

Method

The purpose of the present study was to explore the combination of quantity and type of food in the choice of men and women as a function of the co-eater's sex. In order to test the hypotheses, the experiment design was a 2 (respondents' sex) x 2 (co-eater's sex) between-participants, and the menu list was set in order to offer two categories of dish type (masculine and feminine), each in two portion sizes (medium or big).

Results

In the present study, we expected to find systematic variations of food type choice and quantity regulation as a function of the dyad composition (same- vs opposite sex), as evidence of the need to combine both the motivation to express one's gender identity and to ingratiate the co-eater.

Globally, 39% of the participants chose a medium portion of a masculine dish, 26.7% a medium portion of a feminine dish, 23.5% a big portion of a masculine dish, and 10.7% a big portion of a feminine dish. In

Discussion

Our findings confirmed that the sex composition of a dyad at a table actually differentially affects the choice of food type and the regulation of food amount. With the present study we intended to bridge two usually separated literature: that concerning the psychological functions of food amount regulation and that concerning food type choice. Previous research has shown that both food choice and amount regulation can be tools with which the eaters convey their gender identity and manage

Conclusion

Notwithstanding these limitations, the present research is the first (to the best of our knowledge) to show that, when eating with a partner, people regulate both the food type and the food amount with a view to expressing their gender identity and their impression management needs, respectively. In other words, individuals appear to use the quantity dimension to communicate gender identity, and the food type dimension in order to ingratiate the co-eater by matching her/his presumed choice, in

Acknowledgements

We wish to express our gratitude to Elisabetta Brombin for collecting the data and Alberto Roverato for statistical advices.

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