Success & Failure of Dieting Flashcards
What are the 3 basic forms of dieting?
1) Restricting total amount of food
2) Refraining from eating certain types of food
3) Avoiding eating for long periods of time
What is dieting?
Form of restricted eating involving the voluntary restriction of food intake
Outline dieting in evolutionary terms
May have been adaptive because it would have had an adaptive value in times of food scarcity
Outline Bartlett (03)
USA statistics: over 50% are obese or overweight and there are 300,000 deaths a year credited to preventable weight-related conditions
How did Wing & Hill (01) define how successful dieting is and how many actually succeed in this?
‘Successful long-term weight loss maintenance, involving the intentional loss of at least 10% of initial body weight and keeping it off for at least one year’
20% succeed in doing this
What percentage of women have tried to diet in the UK?
89%
Who came up with the restraint theory?
Herman & Mack (75)
Summarise restraint theory
Attempting to not eat actually increases the probability of overeating
What did Herman & Polivy (84) come up with?
The boundary model
Who came up with the boundary model?
Herman & Polivy (84)
Explain the boundary model
Created to explain why dieting may lead to overeating - hunger keeps intake of food above a certain minimum - satiety works to keep intake below some maximum level - between the 2 levels, psychological factors have the greatest impact on consumption - dieters tend to have larger range between hunger and satiety levels as it takes them longer to feel hungry and more food to satisfy them - in addition, restrained eaters have self-imposed desired intake - one over this boundary, continue to eat until they reach satiety (beyond the max level imposed as part of their diet)
What does satiety mean?
Satisfaction of hunger
What study provides support for restraint theory?
Wardle & Beale (88)
Outline Wardle & Beale (88)
Randomly assigned 27 obese women to either diet group (focusing on restrained eating patterns), an exercise group or a non-treatment group for 7 weeks - week 4, food intake and appetite assessed before and after a preload (small snack) - week 6, food intake assessed under stressful conditions - results showed both assessment sessions, women in diet condition ate more than women in exercise and non-treatment groups - thus implying overeating caused by dieting itself
How did Herman & Polivy (84) explain common failure of dieting?
Dieters could not be bothered to maintain dieting as too much effort - suggests a cognitive shift in thinking involving breakdown of self-control
What did Herman & Polivy find about the effect of mood on dieting behaviour?
Dieters overeat to shift responsibility for negative moods onto eating behaviour
What did Ogden (03) say about the effect of having a list of ‘forbidden foods’?
The more they try to suppress thoughts, the more preoccupied they become with them - suggests denial actually creates more pressure to break up a diet
How do slimming clubs deal with the problem of ‘forbidden foods’?
By allowing dieters to have specific number of them or these forbidden foods in small amounts - having them in moderation
Outline Keys (50)
Conscientious war objectors were given half of their normal daily food intake for 12 weeks and on average they lost about 25% of their body weight - they became so obsessed with food they hoarded or even stole it, thinking of little else - suggests restrained thinking leads to alteration in cognitive state
Name the 2 aspects of the success and failure of dieting
1) Restraint theory
2) The role of denial
Name 2 positive evaluative points for restraint theory
1) Research support
2) Implications for obesity treatment
Explain the implications for obesity treatment for restraint theory
The theory suggests restraint leads to excess, yet treatment of obesity commonly recommends restraint as solution to excessive weight gain - however, failed attempts to diet can leave obese individuals depressed, feeling a failure and unable to control their weight - although obesity may not necessarily be caused by overeating, overeating may be a consequence of obesity if restraint is recommended as a treatment
Name and explain the main negative evaluative point about restraint theory
Methodological techniques are lab-based and artificial so little relevance to real-life behaviour - studies use self-monitoring and find that some dieters often do eat less than unrestrained eaters
Summarise the role of denial
Research has shown attempting to suppress or deny a though frequently has the opposite effect, making it even more prominent
Outline Wegner (87)
Asked some ppts not think abot white bear but to ring a bell if thy did, and others to think about a white bear - those told not to think about the bear rang their bells far more often than ppts instructed to think about the bear
What does Wegner (94) refer this phenomenon of the role of denial as?
The theory of ironic processes of mental control
Why is it called the theory of ironic processes of mental control?
It represents a paradoxical effect of thought control
Outline the theory of ironic processes of mental control
Central to any dieting strategy is the decision not to eat certain foods or eat less of them - results in a similar state of denial as dieters try to suppress thoughts about foods they are trying to deny themselves - as soon as food is denied therefore, it simultaneously becomes more attractive
Name a positive evaluative point for the role of denial
Research support with Soetens (06)
Outline Soetens (06)
Ppts divided into restrained and unrestrained eaters - restrained group were then subdivided into those who were either high or low on disinhibition - the disinhibited restrained group (those who tried to eat less but who would often overeat) used more thought suppression than other groups and also showed rebound effect (thought more about food) afterwards - shows restrained eaters who tend to overeat try to suppress thoughts about food more often, but when they do, think more about food afterwards
Name a negative evaluative point about the role of denial
Wegner (94) admits ironic effects observed are not particularly huge - detectable but far from overwhelming
Explain the mistakes dieters typically make causing their efforts to fail
Diets are unsustainable and dieters set too big challenges with too few calories which can only be sustained short term - so dieters usually have unrealistic ideas - often the case they have large initial weight loss but then levels off so this is seen as less reinforcing - diet may cause lack of energy and dizziness so loss of motivation
What is ghrelin’s role in the failure of dieting?
It stimulates the appetite making hungry people even hungrier during dieting as body tries to address weight loss by increasing the physiological desire to eat - therefore increasing the chances of abandonment
Name 4 studies relating to the long term failure of diets
1) Jeffery (00)
2) Cummings (02)
3) Williams (02)
4) D’anci (08)
Outline Jeffery (00)
Factors like motivation loss and social pressure have negative influences
Outline Cummings (02)
Low-calorie diets increase ghrelin production by 24% reducing chances of weight loss
Outline Williams (02)
Lacking concentration as lose focus on targets and strategies so cognitive factors play a role
Outline D’anci (08)
Low carb diets have cognitive effect, reducing glycogen levels hence lack of concentration so biological factors have a part in affecting
Explain relapse prevention
Seems a good strategy of maintaining loss - achieving a stable energy balance around the new lower weight, learning to identify a situation in which lapses could occur and how to refocus
How can operant conditioning be used by dieters to keep themselves on track?
Have rewards acting as positive reinforcements to condition desired weight loss effect - for example reward themselves with clothes to fit their new body shape - also use social networking provides support during weight loss - social learning in terms of providing successful role models
How can advice from health professionals help dieters to succeed?
Setting series of short term goals and avoid setting unrealistic targets - must set clear, objectively defined path to maintain motivation - regular monitoring and feedback with necessary readjustments being made
Outline Redden (08)
Success lies in attention we pay to what is being eaten - people usually like experiences less as they repeat them so makes harder to stick to particular regime when dieting - so instead of thinking not another salad, should focus on details of the meal - by focusing on details, get bored less easily and so are better able to maintain diet
What experiment supports Redden (08)?
The jelly-beans experiment
Outline the jelly-beans experiment
Gave 135 ppts 22 jelly beans each, one at a time - as each dispensed, info about it on screen - one group saw general info (bean number 7) and other group saw specific flavours - ppts got bored (eating beans faster) if saw general info and enjoyed task more if saw specific flavour - application in real-life?
Outline Thomas & Stern (95)
Financial incentives do not promote significant weight loss - found creating group contracts for loss some success most likely because of support from others in the group
What are the 2 psychological factors accounting for the success of WeightWatchers?
1) Social support that members offer to each other
2) Goal setting
Outline Miller-Kovack (01)
Social support methods like WeightWatchers are superior to individual regimes over 2 years which suggests social networking is good
Outline Lowe (04)
71.6% of WeightWatchers members maintained weight loss of at least 5% suggesting social support is not only good for losing weight but maintaining also
Outline Bartlett (03)
Best with target of reducing calorific intake of 500-1000 calories a day resulting in a loss of 1-2 pounds a week suggesting achievable goal setting is important
Outline Wing & Hill (01)
Common behaviours in weight loss and maintenance is:
Low-fat diet
Constant self-monitoring of intake and weight
Increased physical activity
Outline Nolen-Hoeksema (02)
Found females low-fat diets develop negative moods which they address by overeating - 80% of these develop clinical depression with 5years - suggests diets can lead to a mental disorder
Name 3 negative evaluative points about research into the success and failure of dieting
1) Individual differences
2) Ethics
3) Limitations of anecdotal evidence
Explain individual differences in the success and failure of dieting
Low restrainers find it easy - Mesink (08) high restrainers are hypersensitive to food cues and more likely to abandon diet - Stirling (04) found high-restrainers not able to resist forbidden chocolate but not known as to whether being low/high innate or learned
Explain the ethics of the success and failure of dieting
Types of research that can be carried out in looking at eating behaviour is restricted because of ethics involved so most research uses self-report, not necessarily valid
Explain limitations of anecdotal evidence for the success and failure of dieting
Many studies rely on personal accounts of individuals - anecdotal evidence - this evidence is often used to justify claims concerning particular dieting strategies - however there are a number of problems scientific studies do not have - main limitation is memory not 100% accurate, nor is assessment of success or failure of dieting entirely objective which creates problems for reliability of evidence
Name a positive evaluative point for the success and failure of dieting
Findings from eating behaviour research will hopefully lead to identification of successful dieting
Name 4 IDA points for the success and failure of dieting
1) Gender-biased
2) Culturally-biased
3) Free will or determinism
4) Formation of effective diets
Explain how the success and failure of dieting is gender-biased
Focus of females so generalisability issues - some dieting leads to negative consequences, mainly in females such as anorexia - but, 15% of those suffer from anorexia are male - so important to understand male behaviour also when looking at eating behaviour
Explain how the success and failure of dieting is culturally-biased
Some cultural groups find it harder to diet successfully because of natural inclination to obesity - for example Asian adults are more prone to obesity than Europeans
Explain free will or determinism for the success and failure of dieting
Likely that number of genetic mechanisms have an influence on weight, suggesting the success and failure of dieting determined by factors other than an individual’s choice of lifestyle - one gene codes for LPL which is an enzyme produced by fat cells to help store calories as fat - if too much LPL, body especially efficient at storing calories - LPL also makes it easier to regain lost weight - Kern (90) 9 people lost average of 90 pounds had LPL levels measured before dieting and again 3 months later - levels increased after weight loss, and the fatter the person was to start with, the higher the LPL levels were - believed weight loss activated gene producing enzyme, might explain why easier for dieter to regain lost weight than for someone who has never been obese to put weight on
Explain how the success and failure of dieting can lead to the formation of an effective diet
When applied properly, findings can lead to long term effectiveness in weight stabilisation - such success can be measured in terms of heightened psychological well-being and reduced costs to the health services
