Psychological explanations for obesity Flashcards
Who devised the restraint theory?
Herman and Mack (1975)
Who devised the Boundary model?
Herman and Polivy (1984)
Who devised the disinhibition theory?
Hays and Roberts (2008)
What is the key belief of the Restraint theory?
Attempting not to eat increases the probability of over eating.
In most case, restraint leads to over eating and weight gain and therefore obesity.
What are the different types of restraint?
Rigid-all or nothing approach to dieting
Flexible-less strict. Fattening foods can be eaten in limited quantities without guilt.
What did Provencher (2003) report about rigid and flexible restraint?
Tends to be positively associated with amount of body fat, weight circumference and BMI.
Flexible restraint tends to be negatively associated with these measures.
What is the key belief of the Boundary model?
Food intake is regulated along a continuum; hunger at one end and fullness at the other.
When energy levels are low we experience hunger, when we have taken in sufficient energy we feel unpleasantly full. In between is a zone of biological indifference where food intake is more to do with cultural and social factors.
What does the Boundary model say about restrained eaters?
Larger zone of biological indifference. Lower threshold for hunger and higher threshold for satiation.
Less sensitive to hunger and feelings of fullness.
What is the “what the hell” effect according to the boundary model?
Dieters have a self imposed diet boundary that is lower than the satiation threshold.
Cognitively determined and represents the amount the dieter thinks they should eat.
The “what the hell” effect is when the individual goes over this threshold and continues to eat until they reach satiation or beyond.
What is disinhibition in terms of eating behaviour?
The tendency to overeat in response to a stimuli.
Can occur in a variety of circumstances eg. when an individual is presented with lots of palatable foods or is in emotional distress.
The normal restraints that prevent overeating are removed which means they respond less to satiation and are more likely to overeat.
What did Bellisle et al’s 2004 study find about disinhibition?
Strongly associated with adult weight gain and BMI.
What were the three types of disinhibition identified by Bond et al in 2001?
Habitual disinhibition-tendency to overeat in response to daily life circumstances.
Emotional disinhibition-tendency to overeat in response to emotional states eg. anxiety or depression.
Situational disinhibition-tendency to overeat in response to specific environmental cues e.g. weddings buffets or parties
Which type of disinhibition has shown to be the most important in terms of weight gain and obesity?
habitual disinhibition
High number of daily overeating opportunities in the typical western food environment
