7/ Eating behaviours - explanations for success and failure of dieting Flashcards
what are the two explanations for the failure of dieting?
- the boundary model
2. theory of hedonic eating
what is meant by the boundary model?
cognitive boundary is set at a lower level than biological and when the cognitive boundary is maintained dieting is successful but when it is passed it can lead to bingeing, the ‘what the hell effect’ and ironic mental processes.
what is meant by the theory of hedonic eating?
restrained eaters (dieters) may be more sensitive to the hedonism (pleasure) gain from eating. dieter focuses on the desire to eat and find it difficult to concentrate in controlling food intake.
what research supports the idea of hedonic eating?
assessed salivary responses to hot pizza, those on a diet had a greater salivary response than those not retraining their eating. but this is gender bias - gynocentric, female sample.
what is an alternative viewpoint that diets fail?
biological reasons - we have a body weight set point that we are biologically determined to maintain. dieting is working against this body weight set point which is why dieting is difficult.
what are the 3 explanations for the success of dieting?
- pay attention to food
- enlist social support
- achievable targets
what is meant by paying attention to food in the success of a diet?
dieter should fully focus on food and the specific details, should not eat in front of the TV, whilst reading or holding a conversation - we are more likely to over eat when we concentrate on something else other than the food we eat.
what is meant by enlist social support in the success of a diet?
needs support from family and friends to encourage and reward the continuation of the diet e.g. weight watchers have group meeting every week.
what is meant by achievable targets in the success of a diet?
need to set realistic goals for the amount of weight they need to loose in a suitable time frame, e.g. lots of small goals rather than one big one.
what research is there to support the role of attention in successful dieting?
study shows focusing on details of the food increases enjoyment. 135 people given 22 jelly beans at one time, one group saw general info about the jelly beans and other group saw specific details and they enjoyed them more.
what practical applications are there in successful dieting?
people who need to loose weight for health reasons can be guided to be put on successful diet plans with certain strategies
why can we not draw firm conclusions from the research from the success of dieting?
can’t force someone to follow a certain diet and therefore the data comes from retrospective data.
