EE103: The Psychology of Food - Paul Rozin, Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania

Speaker Biography:

PAUL ROZIN is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of numerous publications on Cultural Psychology. His focus is on understanding the role of food in human life, positive psychology, and ethnopolitical conflict. Paul’s work on food includes comparative studies of food attitudes and the function of pleasure in a number of cultures, including the U.S., France, India and, Japan; the role of relatively subtle environmental factors (such as portion size) on food intake; the meaning and reason for preference for natural things, in a cultural context; ambivalence to foods, especially meat and chocolate; attitudes and beliefs about the relationship between diet and health; the psychology of water; and the acquisition of likes and dislikes for foods. In positive psychology, his study includes the relation between memories of valenced experiences and the actual experiences, and the distinction between comforts and joys, in a cultural context, with comparisons of France and the U.S.; and in ethnopolitical conflict, studies include ethnic aversions, forgiveness, and attachment to land. His work has been carried out in the U.S., Israel/Palestine, and Sri Lanka.