HNE-30306 Psychobiology of Food Choice and Eating Behaviour

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

Courses on social/behavioral aspects of nutrition in the first two years of the BSc programma in Nutrition and Health; HNE-20306 Nutrition Behaviour.

Continuation courses:

Theses in Nutrition; Communication and Innovation; Marketing and Consumer Sciences.

Contents:

This 6 credit course is focused on recent development in Nutrition Behaviour Research. The course will contain several parts:
- group assignment on a case study: students can choose one out of six possible topics;
- 20 lectures;
- a practical course where students will learn the basics of E-Prime®, a software program to create and run computerized questionnaire and experiments. Students will work in small groups (4-5 students), with the objective to design and make a simple questionnaire and a psychological experiment in order to study determinants of food habits/nutrition behaviour. At the end of the course, students give a presentation of the results,

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to:
- have obtained knowledge and a deeper understanding of the complexity and multidisciplinary of many important issues in the psychobiology of food choice and eating behaviour. The group assignment aims at students display their ability to focus on different perspectives (e.g. nutritional, medical, social, psychological) and formulate a clear summary of relevant knowledge as part of a collectively built knowledgebase that contains knowledge elements from different perspectives;
- have developed skills in work planning, organization and division amongst group members, as well as time management, planning and presentation skills;
- as a group be able to collectively create a knowledge base, using new media in the blackboard environment (e.g. wiki or comparable format);
- be able to describe the most important characteristics of nutrition behaviour and food choice using cultural, social, psychological and biological models;
- be able to apply the obtained knowledge to situations in industrialized as well as in developing countries;
- to be able to design and construct simple questionnaires and experimental tasks which measures social psychological determinants of food choice;
- be able to present a comprehensive summary of their practical work to the participating staff.

Activities:

- follow lectures;
- involved in computer practical;
- involved in group assignment.

Examination:

The assessment of this course will be based on:
- a written exam with open and closed questions (80%):
- a report for the practical assignments (20%).

Literature:

A Course reader will be available at WUR-shop, Forum.
Additional literature, documentation and tasks will be provided at practicals and also through the digital Blackboard learning environment of the course.