Esther K. Papies

Why most dieters fail but some succeed: A goal conflict model of eating behavior

Theories of eating regulation often attribute overweight to a malfunction of homeostatic regulation of body weight. With the goal conflict model of eating, we present a new perspective that attributes the difficulty of chronic dieters (i.e., restrained eaters) in regulating their food intake to a conflict between 2 incompatible goals-namely, eating enjoyment and weight control. This model explains the findings of previous research and provides novel insights into the psychological mechanism responsible for both dietary failure and success. According to this model, although chronic dieters are motivated to pursue their weight control goal, they often fail in food-rich environments because they are surrounded by palatable food cues that strongly prime the goal of eating enjoyment. Due to the incompatibility of the eating enjoyment goal and the weight control goal, such increase in the activation of the eating enjoyment goal results in (a) an inhibition of the cognitive representation of the weight control goal and (b) preferential processing of palatable food stimuli. Both these processes interfere with the effective pursuit of the weight control goal and facilitate unhealthy eating. However, there is a minority of restrained eaters for whom, most likely due to past success in exerting self-control, tasty high-calorie food has become associated with weight control thoughts. For them, exposure to palatable food increases the accessibility of the weight control goal, enabling them to control their body weight in food-rich environments. Evidence for these proposed psychological mechanisms is provided, and implications for interventions are discussed.

Goal Priming and Eating Behavior: Enhancing Self-Regulation by Environmental Cues

OBJECTIVE Several lines of research have shown that the confrontation with attractive food can trigger overeating, especially in restrained eaters. This effect may be driven by a hedonic orientation toward food which temporarily overrules the goal of dieting in the regulation of behavior. The present study was designed to provide an experimental demonstration of this effect in a naturalistic setting, and to show that reactivating the goal of dieting by a subtle prime in the environment can help restrained eaters to regulate their eating behavior in tempting situations. DESIGN In a local store where the smell of grilled chicken was present, we observed the number of free meat snacks customers sampled from a tray after they had been primed with the dieting goal or not. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Number of snacks consumed. RESULTS Consistent with hypotheses, restrained eaters ate more than unrestrained eaters in the control condition. However, they reduced their eating behavior when primed with dieting, whereas this manipulation did not affect unrestrained eaters. CONCLUSION This study shows that unobtrusively priming the goal of dieting can enhance self-regulation in tempting eating situations. These results are discussed in the context of recent advances in our understanding of nonconscious behavior regulation and their applications to health behavior.

Mindful Attention Prevents Mindless Impulses

Three studies illustrate that mindful attention prevents impulses toward attractive food. Participants received a brief mindfulness procedure in which they observed their reactions to external stimuli as transient mental events rather than subjectively real experiences. Participants then applied this procedure to viewing pictures of highly attractive and neutral food items. Finally, reactions to food stimuli were assessed with an implicit approach-avoidance task. Across experiments, spontaneous approach reactions elicited by attractive food were fully eliminated in the mindful attention condition compared to the control condition, in which participants viewed the same items without mindful attention. These effects were maintained over a 5-minute distraction period. Our findings suggest that mindful attention to one’s own mental experiences helps to control impulsive responses and thus suggest mindfulness as a potentially powerful method for facilitating self-regulation.

Healthy Cognition: Processes of Self-Regulatory Success in Restrained Eating

Two studies examined self-regulatory success in dieting. Previous research has indicated that restrained eaters (i.e., chronic dieters) might fail in their attempts at weight control because the perception of attractive food cues triggers hedonic thoughts about food and inhibits their dieting goal. However, recent work suggests that in some dieters, temptation cues activate the relevant goal and thus facilitate self-regulation. The present work extends these findings by showing that self-regulatory success moderates the effect of food cues on restrained eaters such that food cues activate the dieting goal in successful restrained eaters and inhibit the dieting goal in unsuccessful restrained eaters. The specific time course of these effects was examined. Moreover, a correlational study revealed that only successful restrained eaters translate their dieting intentions into action. Results are discussed in the context of nonconscious self-regulation and the role of automatic processes in the link between intention and behavior.

Turning a Blind Eye to Temptation: How Cognitive Load Can Facilitate Self-Regulation

The present research shows in 4 studies that cognitive load can reduce the impact of temptations on cognition and behavior and, thus, challenges the proposition that distraction always hampers self-regulation. Participants performed different speeded categorization tasks with pictures of attractive and neutral food items (Studies 1-3) and attractive and unattractive female faces (Study 4), while we assessed their reaction times as an indicator of selective attention (Studies 1, 3, and 4) or as an indicator of hedonic thoughts about food (Study 2). Cognitive load was manipulated by a concurrent digit span task. Results show that participants displayed greater attention to tempting stimuli (Studies 1, 3, and 4) and activated hedonic thoughts in response to palatable food (Study 2), but high cognitive load completely eliminated these effects. Moreover, cognitive load during the exposure to attractive food reduced food cravings (Study 1) and increased healthy food choices (Study 3). Finally, individual differences in sensitivity to food temptations (Study 3) and interest in alternative relationship partners (Study 4) predicted selective attention to attractive stimuli, but again, only when cognitive load was low. Our findings suggest that recognizing the tempting value of attractive stimuli in our living environment requires cognitive resources. This has the important implication that, contrary to traditional views, performing a concurrent demanding task may actually diminish the captivating power of temptation and thus facilitate self-regulation.

Differentiating between successful and unsuccessful dieters. Validity and reliability of the Perceived Self-Regulatory Success in Dieting Scale.

Dieting and the wish to lose weight are ubiquitous in our society. Only few people, however, are successful in long-term weight loss and -maintenance. The Perceived Self-Regulatory Success in Dieting Scale (PSRS) is a succinct 3-item measure that can be used to differentiate between successful and unsuccessful dieters. However, psychometric properties of the scale have not yet been investigated. We re-analyzed data from several studies and demonstrate validity and reliability of the PSRS. Internal consistency was reasonably high (Cronbachs alpha=.72-.79). Item means were medium and item-total-correlations were high. Validity of the scale was demonstrated such that it correlated negatively with body-mass-index (BMI), concern for dieting, rigid dietary control, food cravings, food addiction symptoms, and binge eating. Flexible dietary control was positively associated with the PSRS. We conclude that the PSRS constitutes a valid and reliable measure to efficiently assess dieting success.

Eat it or beat it. The differential effects of food temptations on overweight and normal-weight restrained eaters

Dieting is difficult to maintain in an environment where cues of attractive, high-calorie food abound. Overweight and restrained eating have been associated with failures of self-regulation in response to such food cues. A subgroup of successful restrained eaters, however, have been found to activate their dieting goal in response to tempting food cues, which helps them to pursue their dieting goal in such situations. The present research extended this finding by examining the effect of tempting food cues on wanting to eat high-calorie snacks in normal-weight and overweight restrained eaters. In an Internet experiment, normal-weight and overweight participants (N=284) were unobtrusively primed with tempting food or neutral food objects. Next, wanting for high-calorie snacks was assessed with a forced-choice measure presenting pictures of high-calorie snacks and low-calorie alternatives. As predicted, exposure to attractive food cues decreased wanting for high-calorie food in normal-weight restrained eaters, but increased wanting in overweight restrained eaters. These results suggest that, in women who are successful in maintaining their weight, food temptations may trigger processes of successful self-regulation, whereas overweight restrained eaters may seem to forget about their diet goal when they are confronted with attractive food, thereby risking the chance to overeat.

Using health primes to reduce unhealthy snack purchases among overweight consumers in a grocery store

Objective:Healthy-eating intentions of overweight individuals are often thwarted by the presence of attractive food temptations in grocery stores and the home environment. To support healthy-eating intentions, we tested the effectiveness of a simple health prime to reduce the purchases of energy-dense snack foods in a grocery store among overweight individuals.Design:This field experiment had a 2 (condition: health prime vs control) × 2 (weight status: overweight vs normal weight) between-participants design.Method:Customers of a grocery store were handed a recipe flyer that either contained a health and diet prime, or not. Participants’ weight and height, as well as their attention to and awareness of the prime during shopping, were assessed by means of a questionnaire. The purchase of unhealthy snack foods was assessed by means of the receipt.Results:Results showed that the health prime reduced snack purchases compared with the control condition among overweight and obese participants. When primed, overweight and obese participants bought almost 75% fewer snacks than when not primed. Additional analyses showed that although the prime worked only when customers paid initial attention to the flyer that contained the health prime, no conscious awareness of the prime during grocery shopping was necessary for these effects.Conclusion:These findings suggest that health priming can lead to healthier grocery shopping among overweight consumers, without relying on conscious awareness during shopping. This makes priming a highly viable intervention tool to facilitate healthy food choices. Such tools are especially relevant in the setting of grocery shopping, given that they have direct effects on eating in the home environment and thus for longer-term weight management.

A brief mindfulness intervention reduces unhealthy eating when hungry, but not the portion size effect

OBJECTIVE The present research examined the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention to foster healthy eating. Specifically, we tested whether a brief mindfulness manipulation can prevent the portion size effect, and reduce overeating on unhealthy snacks when hungry. METHODS 110 undergraduate participants (MAge=20.9±2.3; MBMI=22.3±2.5) were served a small or a large portion of chocolate chip cookies after listening to an audio book or performing a mindfulness exercise (i.e., body scan). Current level of hunger was assessed unobtrusively on a visual analog scale before the eating situation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Calorie intake from chocolate chip cookies. RESULTS When presented with a large compared to a small portion, participants consumed more cookies (+83kcal). This was not affected by the mindfulness intervention or by hunger. However, while control participants ate more unhealthy food when hungry than when not hungry (+67kcal), participants in the mindfulness condition did not (+1kcal). CONCLUSIONS Findings confirm the prevalence and robustness of the portion size effect and suggest that it may be independent from awareness of internal cues. Prevention strategies may benefit more from targeting awareness of the external environment. However, mindfulness-based interventions may be effective to reduce effects of hunger on unhealthy food consumption.

The portion size effect on food intake. An anchoring and adjustment process

People consistently over-eat when served a large compared with a small (appropriate) portion of food. However, the mechanism underlying this so-called portion size effect is not well understood. We argue that the process of anchoring and adjustment naturally describes this effect, such that the size of a presented portion works as an anchor that strongly influences consumption. The classical anchoring and adjustment paradigm was applied to six hypothetical eating situations. Participants were asked to imagine being served either a small or a large portion of food (i.e., low and high anchor) and to indicate whether they would consume more or less than this amount. Then, they indicated how much they would eat. These estimates were compared with a no-anchor condition where participants did not imagine a specific portion size but only indicated how much they would eat. In addition, half of participants in the anchoring conditions received a discounting instruction stating that the portion size they had been asked to imagine was randomly selected and thus not informative for their consumption estimate. As expected, participants who imagined to be served larger portions estimated to consume significantly more food than participants in the no-anchor condition, and participants who imagined to be served smaller portions estimated to consume significantly less food than participants in the no-anchor condition. The discounting manipulation did not reduce this effect of the anchors. We suggest that the process of anchoring and adjustment may provide a useful framework to understand the portion size effect and we discuss implications of this perspective.