Psychological factors such as motives, personality and attitudes towards food and nutrition have been reviewed, and shown to essentially influence nutritional behavior. Even rational motives, like the wish to be healthy and slim, may result in eating disorders, especially in orthorexia and anorexia nervosa. Both the effect of ingested food on emotional status and the effect of emotions on food choice have been demonstrated. The results of research on consumer attitudes towards transgenic, functional, ecological and unfamiliar foods have been presented. The improper attitudes towards various forms of food and eating have often resulted from unfamiliarity of foods (neophobia) or their effects on health (functional food). The results obtained show that the knowledge of consumers’ motives and attitudes is an important factor permitting the food producers to implement the best marketing strategy to increase sales, as well as allowing the dietetics and physicians to asses the risks of development of eating disorders and to change them into healthy attitudes.