Carolien Martijn

Perceived naturalness and acceptance of genetically modified food

This study examines peoples acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food. Results suggest that GM acceptance depends most on how natural the genetically modified product is perceived and not directly on how natural the non-GM product is seen. A GM product that is perceived as more natural is more likely to be accepted than a GM product that is perceived as less natural. The extent to which GM affects the perceived naturalness of a product partly depends on the kind of product.

The effect of suppressing negative emotions on eating behavior in binge eating disorder

Overeating may be a consequence of the suppression of negative emotions, by depleting self-control resources. This experiment investigated whether (a) there is a causal relationship between the suppression of negative emotions, negative mood, and overeating in people with binge eating disorder (BED) and whether (b) this relationship is increased in depressed people with BED. Sixty-six women with (full and sub-threshold) BED were shown an upsetting movie and then asked either to suppress their emotions or to react naturally. Subsequently, everyone participated in a taste task. After a decline, initial mood before watching the movie was restored after eating. Depressive symptomatology was positively correlated with caloric intake. Within the clinically depressed (Beck Depression Inventory-score>19) BED group, those who were most affected by the negative mood induction consumed the most calories. No differences were found between the two conditions with regard to caloric intake. No interaction effect was found between depressive symptoms and mood suppression. The hypothesis that suppression of negative emotion leads to overeating in (depressed) binge eaters was not born out. Overeating may serve as a means to (temporary) repair negative mood.

Carrying on or giving in: The role of automatic processes in overcoming ego depletion

Research has shown that repeated exercise of self-control leads to impaired performance on subsequent self-control tasks, a phenomenon labelled ego depletion. The current research investigates the influence of automatic processes on self-control performance. Study 1 shows that activation of persistence leads to stable self-control performance and may help to overcome effects of ego depletion. Initially depleted participants kept their physical self-control performances constant when primed with persistence. If such a prime was absent, self-control performance of depleted participants decreased indicating ego depletion. Using a different manipulation, these findings were replicated in Study 2.

I see what you see: The lack of a self-serving body-image bias in eating disorders

OBJECTIVES Eating-disordered subjects feel unattractive, and the current idea is that this feeling reflects a distorted body image. A distorted body image requires a mismatch between the negative self-judgments and more objective judgments of the body. DESIGN AND METHODS To examine whether eating-disordered subjects have valid reasons for their feelings of unattractiveness, the body images of eating-symptomatic subjects and control models were compared with inter-subjective evaluations of these bodies given by two community samples (panels; N=72, N=88). RESULTS Although the objective body sizes of the eating-symptomatic subjects were in the normal range and not different from control bodies, the first panel rated the (headless) bodies of the eating-symptomatic subjects as less attractive. This finding was replicated with the second panel. There was also large agreement between the eating-symptomatic subjects and the second panel on the specific body parts that were indicated as unattractive. Contrary to the eating-symptomatic subjects, the control models showed a strong positively biased perception of their own attractiveness: they rated their own bodies more positively than others rated them. CONCLUSION Consensual validation of the harsh body appraisals of eating-symptomatic subjects was found. Interestingly, the normal controls were the ones that showed a biased body image; they rated themselves far more attractive than other people rated them. These data suggest that the real problem in eating disorders is not a distorted body image but a lack of a distorted body image, that is, the lack of a self-serving body-image bias.

Dealing efficiently with emotions: Acceptance-based coping with negative emotions requires fewer resources than suppression

Previous studies have consistently shown that changing or avoiding emotions requires resources and therefore leads to impaired performance on a subsequent self-control task. The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which acceptance-based coping requires regulatory resources. Participants who accepted their emotions during exposure to a sad video performed better on a subsequent self-control task than participants who were instructed to suppress their emotions and a control group who received no instructions. These findings suggest that acceptance is an efficient strategy in terms of resources.

A Meta-Analytic Review of Stand-Alone Interventions to Improve Body Image

Objective Numerous stand-alone interventions to improve body image have been developed. The present review used meta-analysis to estimate the effectiveness of such interventions, and to identify the specific change techniques that lead to improvement in body image. Methods The inclusion criteria were that (a) the intervention was stand-alone (i.e., solely focused on improving body image), (b) a control group was used, (c) participants were randomly assigned to conditions, and (d) at least one pretest and one posttest measure of body image was taken. Effect sizes were meta-analysed and moderator analyses were conducted. A taxonomy of 48 change techniques used in interventions targeted at body image was developed; all interventions were coded using this taxonomy. Results The literature search identified 62 tests of interventions (N = 3,846). Interventions produced a small-to-medium improvement in body image (d + = 0.38), a small-to-medium reduction in beauty ideal internalisation (d + = -0.37), and a large reduction in social comparison tendencies (d + = -0.72). However, the effect size for body image was inflated by bias both within and across studies, and was reliable but of small magnitude once corrections for bias were applied. Effect sizes for the other outcomes were no longer reliable once corrections for bias were applied. Several features of the sample, intervention, and methodology moderated intervention effects. Twelve change techniques were associated with improvements in body image, and three techniques were contra-indicated. Conclusions The findings show that interventions engender only small improvements in body image, and underline the need for large-scale, high-quality trials in this area. The review identifies effective techniques that could be deployed in future interventions.

Expand Your Horizon: A programme that improves body image and reduces self-objectification by training women to focus on body functionality

This study tested Expand Your Horizon, a programme designed to improve body image by training women to focus on the functionality of their body using structured writing assignments. Eighty-one women (Mage=22.77) with a negative body image were randomised to the Expand Your Horizon programme or to an active control programme. Appearance satisfaction, functionality satisfaction, body appreciation, and self-objectification were measured at pretest, posttest, and one-week follow-up. Following the intervention, participants in the Expand Your Horizon programme experienced greater appearance satisfaction, functionality satisfaction, and body appreciation, and lower levels of self-objectification, compared to participants in the control programme. Partial eta-squared effect sizes were of small to medium magnitude. This study is the first to show that focusing on body functionality can improve body image and reduce self-objectification in women with a negative body image. These findings provide support for addressing body functionality in programmes designed to improve body image.

Food and the relation between values and attitude characteristics

This survey showed that the values power (dominance over nature and resources) and universalism (respect for people and for nature) are related to attitudes toward genetically modified food (GMF) and organically grown food (OGF). Furthermore, these values have an influence on the centrality, commitment and ambivalence of these attitudes. Values that are positively related to an attitude influence how central this attitude is to a person. However, values that are negatively related to an attitude have a larger effect on the commitment of this attitude. No such pattern of effects was found for the relationship between ambivalence and values. These data suggest that centrality, commitment, and ambivalence are structurally different constructs that have a distinct relationship with specific values.

Body language: affecting body satisfaction by describing the body in functionality terms

With the current studies, we aimed to improve body satisfaction by inducing a functionality-based focus on the body. Objectification theory was used as a guiding framework for this approach. In Study 1, 59 female and 59 male undergraduates and, in Study 2, 118 women between the ages of 30 and 50 years completed a writing assignment to experimentally manipulate their body focus. The writing assignment instructions were to describe what one’s body can do (functionality focus) or what one’s body looks like (appearance focus); a control writing task was also included. Functionality and appearance satisfaction, as well as global self-esteem, were measured at baseline, on test-day, and at a 1-week follow-up. In Study 1, male undergraduates in the functionality condition experienced an increase in functionality satisfaction from baseline to test-day; female undergraduates in the appearance condition experienced a decrease in functionality satisfaction both from baseline to test-day and from baseline to follow-up. In Study 2, women in the functionality condition experienced an increase in functionality satisfaction from baseline to follow-up. The current studies are the first known to experimentally manipulate the functionality-based approach to the body and to investigate its effects on body image—serving to suggest perceived functionality as a potentially fruitful focus for further research and intervention.

Making implicit measures of associations with snack foods more negative through evaluative conditioning.

The present study examined whether implicit measures of associations with snack foods and food consumer behaviour could be changed through a picture-picture evaluative conditioning procedure. In the experimental condition (n=41), female participants completed a conditioning procedure in which pictures of snack foods were paired with images of negatively valenced female body shapes, and pictures of fruits were paired with images of positively valenced body shapes. In a control condition (n=44), snack and fruit stimuli were randomly paired with positively and negatively valenced body shapes. Implicit measures of associations with high-fat snack foods were obtained by using a positive and a negative unipolar single category Implicit Association Test (sc-IAT). A virtual supermarket task was used to assess food consumer behaviour. Results indicated that participants in the experimental condition held a less positive association with high-fat foods on the positive sc-IAT and a more negative association with these foods on the negative sc-IAT as compared to control participants. Opposed to our hypothesis, no behavioural differences were found between the groups. These results imply that this form of associative learning can produce shifts in implicit measures of food evaluations, though behavioural effects were absent.