psychological explantion for obseity s Flashcards
restraint theory
Herman and Polivy
cognitive theory of obesity - restraint theory
attempting to lose weight typically involves restrianed eating
argued that restrained eating is self-defeating
vast majority of people who restrain their eating fail to lose any weight
significant proportion even overeat to the extent they become obese
restraint theory - cognitive control
restraint deaters set strict limits on their food intake
categorise food as good and bad
create rules about what they are allowed and forbidden
amounts they believe are consistent with weight loss
restrained diet is organised way of imposing control which strident eaters believe is a way to lose weight
control is cognitive because the indivuasl has to consciously think about their weight and eating a lot of the time
restraint theory
paradoxical outcome
result is that the restrained eater becomes more precooupied with food rather than less
placing limits on what and how much they eat
restrianed eater no longer eats when they are hungry and stops when they are full
eating behaviour is no longer under physiological control
actively ignore physiological indistores that signal hunger and satiety an leads to disinhibitation of eating behaviour is no
disinhibitation
obesity s not caused by restrained eating alone
result of a dysfunctional cycle of restraint and disinhibition
period of restrianed eaitng if often followed by disinhibition eaitng
individuals eat as much as they want
vulnerable to internal and external food related cues such as mood - internal and smells or media images - external
cues are called disinhibitions and lead to a loss of control over restrianed eating
cognitive process that governs disingbition is a form of distorted thinking - all or nothing thinking
once restrained eater have been disninibited - they continue to eat because there’s no point in stopping
the boundary model
Herman and polivy
sought to explain the impact of restrained eaitng and disinhibition in their boundary model of obesity
food intake exists on a continuum from hungry to sateted
biological processes are the key determinants of how much we eat at each end of this continuum
when our energy levels dip below a set point we feel an aversive state of hunger and we are motivated to eat
eatign to fullness creates an aversive state of discomfort and we are motivated to stop eating
eating begins at the hunger boundary anf stops at the satiety boundary
between these two points is the zone of biological indifferences where biological processes have minimal effect
cognitive and social factors have their greatest influence on food intake when we are neither particularly hungry or full
the boundary model
restrained eaters
people who are restraining their eating have a lower hunger boundary so are less responsive to feelings of hunger
also have a higher satiety boundary soo they need more food to feel full
zone of biological indifferences is wider which means more of their eating behaviour comes under cognitive rather that physiological control
vulnerable to the effects of disinhibition
restrained eaters have a self imposed upper boundary - represents the most they want to eat
some distance below the satiety booundary set by biological processes are
when restrained eaters break the diet boundary they carry on eating beyond the satiety boundary
hell effect - marked by passivity and resignation
strenght
research support
support the roles of restraint and disinhibition
Wardle and Beales
randomly allocated 27 obses women to three groups
one group followed a restrianed eating diet for seven weeks
second group - excersize regime and did not restrian their eating
third group - received no treatment of any kind
restrianed eaters consumed significantly more calories than the other partipants because even though they tended to eat less throughout the seven week peirod they occasionally experiences disinhibition when the would eat beyond the feeling full zone of
suggest that restraint leading to disinhibition is a casual factor in over eaitng - leads to weight gain and obesity
limitation
restraint is more complex’s than the boundary model indicates
researchers have identifies at least two different forms of restraint
rigid restraint - all or nothing approach limiting food intake when we
flexinile restraint - allows a restrained eater to eat limited amounts of some forbidden foods without necessarily triggering disinhibition
only rigid restraint is likely to lead to obesity
could explain why some research has found that restrained eating can produce weight loss
boundary model is a limited explanation of obesity because it fails to consider the true comelxtity of restraint
limitation
use of lab studies
highly controlled
unlike real world food related environments
also feature demand characteristics
