Abstract
Objective: Although restrained eaters are motivated to control their weight by dieting, they are often unsuccessful in these attempts. Dual process models emphasize the importance of differentiating between controlled and automatic tendencies to approach food. This study investigated the hypothesis that heightened automatic approach tendencies in restrained eaters would be especially prominent in contexts where food is irrelevant for their current tasks. Additionally, we examined the influence of mood on the automatic tendency to approach food as a function of dietary restraint.Methods: An Affective Simon Task-manikin was administered to measure automatic approach tendencies where food is task-irrelevant, and a Stimulus Response Compatibility task (SRC) to measure automatic approach in contexts where food is task-relevant, in 92 female participants varying in dietary restraint. Prior to the task, sad, stressed, neutral, or positive mood was induced. Food intake was measured during a bogus taste task after the computer tasks.Results: Consistent with their diet goals, participants with a strong tendency to restrain their food intake showed a relatively weak approach bias toward food when food was task-relevant (SRC) and this effect was independent of mood. Restrained eaters showed a relatively strong approach bias toward food when food was task-irrelevant in the positive condition and a relatively weak approach in the sad mood.Conclusion: The weak approach bias in contexts where food is task-relevant may help high-restrained eaters to comply with their diet goal. However, the strong approach bias in contexts where food is task-irrelevant and when being in a positive mood may interfere with restrained eaters’ goal of restricting food-intake.
Highlights
Restrained eaters try to restrict their food intake to control their weight, but typically have difficulties with this and often indulge in the food they want to avoid, eventually leading to weight gain (Herman and Polivy, 1980)
In the Stimulus Response Compatibility task (SRC), there was a negative relationship between restrained eating and approach bias: low restrained eaters generally showed a stronger approach bias than high restrained eaters
This is in line with previous research showing that restrained eaters displayed less approach bias when automatic approach tendencies were measured with a task in which food was a task relevant feature (Fishbach and Shah, 2006)
Summary
Restrained eaters try to restrict their food intake to control their weight, but typically have difficulties with this and often indulge in the food they want to avoid, eventually leading to weight gain (Herman and Polivy, 1980) This raises the question as to what mechanisms underlie this seemingly inconsistent behavior. The mere sight of a chocolate may automatically elicit positive associations and the tendency to approach the stimulus These associative processes need no attentional resources to function, and are independent of whether a person consciously endorses or rejects the implication of an associative link (Strack and Deutsch, 2004; Gawronski and Bodenhausen, 2006; Hofmann et al, 2009)
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