Infants Have Early Understanding Of Social Nature Of Food, According To Study

Most people understand that eating is a social activity - after all, many conversations have been had over brunch, and connections have been made through coffee and dinners. However, it seems that even infants, long before they make their choices in food, understand the impact eating in social settings.

Yes, Your Baby IS a skilled Food Critic & Foodie: @UChicago Infants & Social Nature of Food https://t.co/oeuOuJS8tL pic.twitter.com/CzD9Pl7eZu

— CamillaSaulsbury PhD (@camillacooks) August 23, 2016

In a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it was found that infants actually expect people to share food preferences if they belong to the same social groups. University of California, Santa Barbara assistant professor and part of the research team, Zoe Liberman shared, "Even before infants appear to make smart choices about what substances to ingest, they form nuanced expectations that food preferences are fundamentally linked to social groups and social identity." This means that human reasoning regarding food preferences is fundamentally social, and it starts as early as in the stage of infancy.

Science Daily noted that in the past, researchers found that infants watch what other people eat to learn whether or not food is edible. The new study looks beyond their learning objectives about food to examine infant expectations when it comes to food preference. This is especially important for policy makers working on public health, especially regarding obesity. The findings emphasizes the need to look beyond teaching kids which types of food are healthy by focusing on the social nature of decisions we make regarding what to eat.

Amanda L. Woodward, a William S. Gray Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago shared, "For humans, food choice is a deeply social and cultural affair. These new findings show that infants are tuning into critical information for understanding the social world, as well as for reasoning about food." It also suggests that infants are actually more vigilant toward what they deem are potentially dangerous food - and they expect people to avoid those that are "disgusting."