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Eating Environment And Food Environment

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Our immediate environment refers to our direct surroundings and the conditions within it. The immediate environment can be dived into eating environment and food environment (Wansink, 2004). Eating environment refers to factors which are independent of food, such as who you are eating with, whereas food environment refers to how the food is presented, packaged and served. In order to ascertain how our immediate environment affects how much we eat we must therefore examine experimental evidence for both environmental conditions as each, it is postulated, directly influences how much we consume.
One of the biggest influences in our immediate eating environment which may affect how much we eat is the presence of other of people. Research has consistently shown that people eat greater quantities of food when in a group of friends or family compared to when they are alone (Klesges et al., 1984) and that these meals also last significantly longer (de Castro, 1994) no matter the time of day nor the meal being consumed. A somewhat obvious explanation for this is that people are enjoying the company of their friends and family which means that consumption increases due to an increased availability of food in the immediate environment for an extended period of time. People also self-monitor less effectively because they are distracted by the company and conversation of other people. This is supported by research which shows that when people eat a meal with strangers, self-monitoring

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