Eating Behaviour
Explanations for the success or
failure of dieting.
Notice I said explanations..
• You will need to identify and explain
several reasons why a diet may fail or
succeed.
• There are several, you may want to work
on recalling at least two.
But before we look at the
reasons..
• What research methods are likely to have
been used to collect this data?
• Twin studies
• Adoption studies
• Correlational analysis
• Questionnaires.
• Keep in mind we need to constantly keep
these crucial pieces of information to aid our
AO2 and help with AO3.
So…what is a workable definition of
dieting????
• The adoption of a particular or special diet in
order to achieve a purpose.
(A2 level psychology,2009)
A common opinion is dieting in the short term to lose weight fast is not as
successful as those who take their time and lose weight slowly but
surely.
Diets usually take the form of reduced calories (lower than normal) to
achieve slimness and or being more attractive.
In Britain in the last 25 years 22% of adults are considered obese &
75% overweight (Lopez-Jimenez, 2008)
So what are some of the common reported
reasons for failure/success.
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Leptin & Insulin
Life events
Operant conditioning.
Motivational style
Exercise.
Underestimate/Overestimate
Social factors
Restrained eater
Denial
Restrained eaters??
• Ruderman & Wilson (1979)
• Used what is known as the preload/taste-test procedure
to explore eating behaviour in a lab setting.
• The Ps given either a high-cal shake or chocolate or a
low cal preload (e.g. cracker)
• The Ps were asked to participate in a taste test were
they were asked to rate a series of diff foods (biscuits)
for a variety of qualities, incl: salt/sweet.
• The Ps were then left alone for a fixed period to rate food
and the amount they ate was also recorded.
Ruderman & Wilson (1979)
• The aim of the test is to measure food intake in a
controlled environment & examine the effect of
preloading on eating behaviour.
• The result:
• Restrained eaters consumed significantly more food
than the unrestrained eaters, irrespective of preload
size.
• The study identified the ‘what the hell’/disinihibition
as a characteristic of overeating in restrained eaters
• ‘Eating more as a result of loosening restraints in
response to emotional distress, intoxication or
preloading’ (Herman & Polivy 1988)- Definition of
dishinibition.