obesity- psyc explanation Flashcards
what’s the theory
restraint theory
who proposed this theory
Herman and Polivy 1975
whats the restraint theory
Attempting to lose weight typically involves some form of restrained eating; that is, deliberately limiting the amount of food you eat.
Herman and Polivy argued that restrained eating is counterproductive and ultimately self-defeating.
They noticed that the vast majority of people who restrain their eating fail to lose any weight.
A significant proportion of ‘restrained eaters’ even overeat to the extent that they become obese.
what is cognitive control
Restrained eaters set strict limits on their food intake. They categorize foods into groups of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and create rules and beliefs about which foods are allowed and which are not, as well as the amounts they believe are consistent with weight loss. A restrained diet is a highly organized way of imposing the control which restrained eaters believe is the way to lose weight. This control is cognitive because the individual has to consciously think about their weight and eating a lot of the time.
what is meant by paradoxical outcome
The result is that the restrained eater becomes more preoccupied with food rather than less. By placing limits on what and how much they eat, the restrained eater no longer eats when they are hungry and stops when they are full. Their eating behavior is no longer under physiological control. In fact, they now actively attempt to ignore physiological indicators that signal hunger and satiety, and this leads to disinhibition of eating behavior.
what is disinhibition
The cognitive process that governs disinhibition is a form of distorted thinking such as all-or-nothing thinking. Once the restrained eater has been disinhibited by, for instance, a stressful day combined with the sight and smell of their favourite forbidden food, they continue to eat because there’s no point stopping: ‘Well I blew it. I might as well eat all of this because I won’t be able to tomorrow’.
who suggested the boundary model
Herman and Polivy’s 1984
what is the boundary model
biological processes influence how much we eat. When energy levels drop, we feel hungry and are motivated to eat, while discomfort signals us to stop. The area between hunger and satiety is the zone of biological indifference, where cognitive and social factors have the most influence.
what is the boundary restrained eaters have
Restrained eaters have a lower hunger boundary and a higher satiety boundary, leading to a wider zone of biological indifference where cognitive factors dominate their eating behavior. This makes them prone to disinhibition, such as the “what the hell effect,” where they ignore their dietary limits and overeat once they break their self-imposed boundaries.
who researched restraint
Westenhoefer (1991)
what did he find
(2 types of restraint)
Rigid restraint: [58%]
Flexible restraint [42%]
what is rigid restraint
an all-or-nothing approach to limiting food intake
what is flexible restraint
allows the restrained eater to eat limited amounts of some ‘forbidden’ foods without necessarily triggering disinhibition.
which one can lead to obesity
rigid restraint
why does this make other research invalid
This could be seen as something which may invalidate some research into restraint, if we think we are measuring rigid restraint, but this is only part of the true picture of restraint in the real world then we are not measuring what we think we are. This could explain why research into restrained eating produces inconsistent results [Savage]
how to use this in an essay
Issues with the research validity alone does not detract from the validity of the model
tells us is that the boundary model needs to be less deterministic about the nature of restraint- oversimplification of complex beh
undermine the strength of some of the research evidence which is a problem, and at the same time it offers an excellent explanation for the variations in the research evidence
whats a weakness of the theory
little practical implications on weight loss
The reason for this is that most the population don’t have access to the data about disinhibition, and as such, find it hard to accept that restriction is the problem. Restricting food intake triggers several psychological mechanisms that make weight loss difficult to achieve.
Psychology struggles to compete with the media messaging from the dieting industry. They promise weight loss will result from restricting certain foods and tend to blame the individual dieter if their diet plan do not work; even though the psychological evidence does not support this.
who devised the spiral model
heatherton and polivy (1992)
what is the
suggests at the beginning of adolsencence, low self esteem begins the desire for weight loss. there is an initial success but the weight is often regained. due to this, the individual then feels bad about rhemselves as they havent tried hard enough. this then creates a downward spiral in which they make bigger attempts to diet, making them more vunerable to disinhibited eating
whats a strength of this
can be considered a holistic approach
how is it holistic
The model acknowledges the role of physiological signals such as hunger and satiety, which are governed by biological mechanisms. The hunger boundary is triggered when energy levels drop, and the satiety boundary is reached when the body signals fullness, indicating that biological needs have been met.
The model also emphasizes the role of cognitive control and psychological boundaries, particularly in restrained eaters. The zone of biological indifference is where psychological factors, like emotions, dieting rules, and self-control, influence eating behavior rather than biological hunger or fullness- the ‘what the hell effect’
