Abstract
For more than 20 years, both here and abroad, significant efforts have been undertaken to provide equal access to nutritional food for all citizens. Yet, the numbers of under-nourished continue to rise, as do those afflicted with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Clearly, current efforts are not working. Relying on the psychological phenomena of learned helplessness and fundamental attribution error, it is argued that certain individuals may not be willing, or able, to take actions that are currently prescribed regarding access to nutritious food. The water is muddied regarding potential solutions as the various actors involved (e.g., corporations, governments, individuals) cannot agree on a starting point and continue to point fingers regarding responsibility. It is posited that emphasis needs to shift from the current “one-size-fits-all” approach to one that is more tailored to the various actors, specifically the individuals. Within the group of individuals (consumers), based on Wenar’s Least Cost Theory, even further distinction must be made between those who see themselves as capable actors and those who do not. In this conceptual piece intended to refocus the discussion surrounding food access, we propose that future research should approach these issues from a unit of analysis perspective in an attempt to identify the solutions most likely to succeed at various participating levels.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbade, E.B. 2017. Availability, access and utilization: Identifying the main fragilities for promoting food security in developing countries. World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development 14 (4): 322–335.
Abramson, L.Y., M.E.P. Seligman, and I. Teasdale. 1978. Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 87: 49.
Abramson, L.Y., G.I. Metalsky, and L.B. Alloy. 1989. Hopelessness depression: A theory- based subtype of depression. Psychological Review 96: 358–372.
Allen, L. 2017. Are we facing a noncommunicable disease pandemic? Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health 7 (1): 5–9.
Alloy, L.B., C. Peterson, L.Y. Abramson, and M.E. Seligman. 1984. Attributional style and the generality of learned helplessness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 46 (3): 681–687.
Anaf, J., F.E. Baum, M. Fisher, E. Harris, and S. Friel. 2017. Assessing the health impact of transnational corporations: A case study on McDonald’s Australia. Globalization and Health 13: 1–16.
Bauer, H., J. Pripfl, C. Lamm, C. Prainsack, and N. Taylor. 2003. Functional neuro anatomy of learned helplessness. NeuroImage 20: 927–939.
Blay-Palmer, A., R. Sonnino, and J. Custot. 2016. A food politics of the possible? Growing sustainable food systems through networks of knowledge. Agriculture and Human Values 33 (1): 27–43.
Browning, P. 2017. The global obesity epidemic: Shifting the focus from individuals to the food industry. Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 37 (1): 161–178.
Cemalcilar, Z., R. Canbeyli, and D. Sunar. 2003. Learned helplessness, therapy, and personality traits: An experimental study. Journal of Social Psychology 143 (1): 65–81.
Cetindamar, D., and C.G. Ntim. 2018. Designed by law: Purpose, accountability, and transparency at benefit corporations. Cogent Business & Management 5 (1): 1–14.
Clendenning, J., H.D. Wolfram, and C. Richards. 2016. Food justice or food sovereignty? Understanding the rise of urban food movements in the USA. Agriculture and Human Values 33 (1): 165–177.
Coleman-Jensen, M. P. Rabbitt, C. A. Gregory, and A. Singh. 2018. Household food security in the United States in 2017. Economic Research Report no. 256. Washington: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service: 1-36.
Cordes, K.Y., and A. Bulman. 2016. Corporate agricultural investment and the right to food: Addressing disparate protections and promoting rights-consistent outcomes. UCLA Journal Of International Law & Foreign Affairs 20 (1): 87–162.
De Jong, B., A. Worsley, W. Wei Chun, R. Sarmugam, P. Quynh, J. Februhartanty, and Q. Pham. 2017. Personal values, marketing attitudes and nutrition trust are associated with patronage of convenience food outlets in the Asia-Pacific region: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Health, Population & Nutrition 36 (6): 1–8.
Dixon, B. 2015. Rewriting the call to charity: From food shelf volunteer to food justice advocate. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 5 (2): 71–79.
Dor-Shav, N.K., and M. Mikulincer. 1990. Learned helplessness, causal attribution, and response to frustration. Journal of General Psychology 117 (1): 47.
Erdogan, B., A. Ozyilmaz, T.N. Bauer, and O. Emre. 2018. Accidents happen: Psychological empowerment as a moderator of accident involvement and its outcomes. Personnel Psychology 71 (1): 67–83.
FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, & WHO. 2018. The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2018. Building climate resilience for food security and nutrition. Rome: FAO. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Filippello, P., L. Sorrenti, C. Buzzai, and S. Costa. 2015. Perceived parental psychological control and learned helplessness: The role of school self-efficacy. School Mental Health: A Multidisciplinary Research and Practice Journal 7 (4): 298–310.
Gweon, G., S. Jun, S. Finger, and C.P. Rosé. 2017. Towards effective group work assessment: Even what you don’t see can bias you. International Journal of Technology and Design Education 27 (1): 165–180.
Hiroto, D.S., and M.E. Seligman. 1975. Generality of learned helplessness in man. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31 (2): 311–327.
Holt-Giménez, E., and A. Shattuck. 2011. Food crises, food regimes and food movements: Rumblings of reform or tides of transformation? The Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (1): 109–144.
Huang, N., S. Zuo, F. Wang, P. Cai, and F. Wang. 2017. The dark side of malleability: Incremental theory promotes immoral behaviors. Frontiers in Psychology 8 (1341): 1–12.
Klein, D.C., and M.E. Seligman. 1976. Reversal of performance deficits and perceptual deficits in learned helplessness and depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 85 (1): 11–26.
Maharaj, V., A. Tomita, L. Thela, M. Mhlongo, and J.K. Burns. 2017. Food insecurity and risk of depression among refugees and immigrants in South Africa. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 19 (3): 631–637.
Maier, S.F., and M.E. Seligman. 1976. Learned helplessness: Theory and evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 105 (1): 3–46.
Maier, S.F., and M.E.P. Seligman. 2016. Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. Psychological Review 123 (4): 349–367.
Marks, J.H. 2017. Caveat partner: Sharing responsibility for health with the food industry. American Journal of Public Health 107 (3): 360–361.
McCordic, C., and B. Frayne. 2017. Household vulnerability to food price increases: The 2008 crisis in urban southern Africa. Geographical Research 55 (2): 166–179.
Mialon, M., B. Swinburn, S. Allender, and G. Sacks. 2016. Systematic examination of publicly- available information reveals the diverse and extensive corporate political activity of the food industry in Australia. BMC Public Health 16 (1): 1–13.
Mikulincer, M. 1986. Attributional processes in the learned helplessness paradigm: Behavioral effects of global attributions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51 (6): 1248–1256.
Mohanty, A., R.K. Pradhan, and L.K. Jena. 2015. Learned helplessness and socialization: A reflective analysis. Psychology 6: 885–895.
Murphy, S., M. Schiavoni. 2017. Ten years after the world food crisis: Taking up the challenge of the right to food. Right to Food and Nutrition Watch Consortium 2017, 16–27.
Peterson, C., and M.E. Seligman. 1983. Learned helplessness and victimization. Journal of Social Issues 39 (2): 103–116.
Peterson, C., S.F. Maier, and M.E.P. Seligman. 1993. Learned helplessness: A theory for the age of personal control. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Pethe, S., and S. Chaudhari. 2000. Role efficacy dimensions as correlates of occupational self efficacy and learned helplessness. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations 35 (4): 507–518.
Pilcher, J.M. 2016. The embodied imagination in recent writings on food history. The American Historical Review 121 (3): 861–887.
Reeves, A. 2017. Responsibility allocation and human rights. Ethical Theory & Moral Practice 20 (3): 627–642.
Reznik, S.J., R. Nusslock, N. Pornpattananangkul, L.Y. Abramson, J.A. Coan, and E. Harmon- Jones. 2017. Laboratory-induced learned helplessness attenuates approach motivation as indexed by posterior versus frontal theta activity. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 17 (4): 904–916.
Rius-Ottenheim, N., R.C. van der Mast, F.G. Zitman, and E.J. Giltay. 2013. The role of dispositional optimism in physical and mental well-being. A positive psychology perspective on quality of life. Social Indicators Research Series 51: 149–173.
Ross, L. 1977. The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 10: 173–220. New York: Academic Press.
Roth, S. 1980. A revised model of learned helplessness in humans. Journal of Personality 48 (1): 103–133.
Saitone, T.L., and R.J. Sexton. 2017. Concentration and consolidation in the U.S. food supply chain: The latest evidence and implications for consumers, farmers, and policymakers. Economic Review: 25–59.
Seligman, M.E. 1975. Helplessness: On depression, development, and death. New York: WH Freeman/Times Books/Henry Holt & Co.
Seligman, M.E., and S.F. Maier. 1967. Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal of Experimental Psychology 74 (1): 1–9.
Seligman, M.E., and P. Schulman. 1986. Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quitting among life insurance sales agents. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50 (4): 832–838.
Sorrenti, L., P. Filippello, S. Costa, and C. Buzzai. 2015. A psychometric examination of the learned helplessness questionnaire in a sample of Italian school students. Psychology in the Schools 52 (9): 923–941.
Tempels, T., M. Verweij, and V. Blok. 2017. Big food's ambivalence: Seeking profit and responsibility for health. American Journal of Public Health 107 (3): 402–406.
U.S. Census Bureau. 2018. World population day: July 11, 2018 (release no. CB18-SFS.91).
UN General Assembly resolution 70/1. 2015. Transforming our world : the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, A/RES/70/1 (21 October 2015).
Wenar, L. 2007. Responsibility and severe poverty. In Freedom from poverty as a human right: Who owes what to the very poor? ed. T. Pogge, 255–274. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wittman, H. 2011. Food sovereignty: A new rights framework for food and nature? Environment & Society Environment & Society 2 (1): 87–105.
World Health Organization. 2017. Noncommunicable diseases: Progress monitor 2017. World Health Organization.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Disclosure
No known disclosures
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Coleman, R.A., Fulford, M.D. Ready, Fire, Aim: the Underperformance of Current Food Access Efforts and “Food for Thought” Regarding Potential Solutions. Food ethics 5, 10 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41055-020-00070-9
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41055-020-00070-9