Abstract
In the previous studies, grade and sex differences of the discriminating ability for foods' weights were examined. The purpose of the present study is to investigate some factors involved in the development of the ability. In order to investigate the factors, several items concerning eating habits, such as degrees of the experiences of grocery shopping, of cooking, and of measuring and scaling were measured and the relevance of them to the discriminating ability were examined. The subjects were the same pupils and students of elementary school, junior and senior high schools as the ones in the first report. The results showed that the experiences of eating habits were not related to the extent of the discriminating ability for foods' weights. This indicated that the subjects took scarcely any interest in the foods' weights when they learned or practiced the eating habits in their homes or schools. The progress of the discriminating ability for foods' weights was dependent on the development of general intelligence or on the experiences in actual lives. It was also found that the subjects responded by utilizing not the perception but the weight knowledge which was obtained in their cooking classes of the home economic education.
