Affective and object stimuli and children's food-related stories.

Abstract

This study was stimulated by previous efforts to understand the effects of hunger on projective test responses (e.g., Atkinson & McClelland, 1958) and attempts to analyze the impact of stimulus variables on thematic apperception (e.g., Atkinson, 1958). The purpose of the present study was to assess the influence of various combinations of affective (facial) and food-object stimuli on the content of fifth- and sixth-grade children's stories. Food-object stimuli were preselected by having adults make paired-comparison ratings among graphically reproduced objects. The three food-object stimuli used were an apple (high), an orange (medium), and a tree (low). The affective stimuli came from Schlosberg's (1954) investigations; the most pleasant, the most neutral, and the most unpleasant faces were selected. Ss were presented with the various stimulus complexes (object and face) by means of a simple apparatus consisting of a piece of white cardboard with two (2-in. X 3-in., 1 in. apart) apertures (object in one aperture, face in the other). Ss were tested in groups of five in an unoccupied room at their school (after lunch, to ensure relative satiation). Ss were told to write imaginative stories and char there were no right or wrong stories. Following Atkinson and McClelland (1958), E gave Ss a piece of paper wich four questions concerning story plot. Atkinson and McClelland's criteria for foodrelated imagery (reference to anything having to do with food) and food central thema (central plot of the story concerns food-getting or food-enjoying activity) were used in content analysis. Inter-scorer agreement was 1.00 for the presence of food imagery and .91 for food central thema. Age, IQ sex, and grade were not associated with food-related content. More Ss (10 of 10 vs 4 of 10) expressed food imagery (xa = 5.4, df = 1, p < .025), and more Ss (8 of 10 vs 2 of 10) food central thema (x'= 4.8, df = 1, p < .05) when the stimulus complex included the high food-related stimulus thanwhen the stimulus complex included the low food-related stimulus. More Ss (15 of 20 vs 7 of 20) wrote food central stories (x3 = 9.1, df = 1, fi < ,005) when the pleasant face was part of the srimulus complex than when the unpleasant face was part of the stimulus complex. Eating and positive affect seem associated in our society, and negative affect in conjunction with food stimuli may inhibit eating-related responses.