Abstract

We live in a society that is obsessed with food. Most people fall somewhere in between, and we all tend to have different tastes and affinities. However, there has been little research done on finding a link between someone’s personality and his or her eating habits, and it looks like there may be certain traits that make us more likely to engage in specific eating behaviors. Eating behavior is a broad term that encompasses food choice and motives, feeding practices, dieting, and eating-related problems such as obesity, eating disorders, and feeding disorders. Within the context of behavioral medicine, eating behavior research focuses on the etiology, prevention, and treatment of obesity and eating disorders, as well as the promotion of healthy eating patterns that help manage and prevent medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers. Eating behavior is complex; humans make hundreds of food decisions each day that are influenced by a variety of personal, social, cultural, environmental, and economic factors. What people eat and how much they eat has a considerable influence on their health.