- Email: [email protected]
Walking in an obese woman’s shoes: Does taking the perspective of an obese person promote overeating?
Abstracts / Appetite 107 (2016) 677e694
be a marker of overeating. Funded by a grant to J.A.N. from the Drexel University Clinical Translational Research Institute. WALKING IN AN OBESE WOMAN’S SHOES: DOES TAKING THE PERSPECTIVE OF AN OBESE PERSON PROMOTE OVEREATING? Melissa Oldham, Eric Robinson. Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, Eleanor Rathbone Building, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Oldham).
Overweight and obese individuals eat more than their ‘normal weight’ peers. Although this is likely to be in part caused by a greater energy need, it may also be the case that once a person psychologically identifies as being ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’, they unknowingly conform to common stereotypes about obese people. Because overweight individuals are presumed by many to be ‘greedy’, identifying as an overweight or obese person could therefore promote overconsumption of indulgent foods. The aim of the present study was to examine whether temporarily identifying as an obese person affected consumption of a high calorie snack food. Female participants wore an obese bodysuit or control clothing and were either asked to walk around a public building (public) or stay in a laboratory (private), shortly before being provided with snack food. Participants in the obese bodysuit conditions consumed more cookies than in the control conditions and this effect was not dependent on whether participants wore the obese bodysuit in private or public. These findings may suggest that once a person identifies as, or takes the perspective of an obese person they will behave in a stereotype consistent manner and over-eat. HEALTH GOAL PRIMING: HOW TO BENEFIT FROM NONCONSCIOUS MOTIVATIONAL ROUTES TO HEALTH BEHAVIOR Esther K. Papies. Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, 58 Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QB, UK; Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands E-mail address: [email protected]
Recent research has shown the limited effects of intentions on behaviour, so that novel methods to facilitate behaviour change are needed that do not rely on conscious intentions. In this paper, I will argue that nonintentional effects on health behaviour, such as the effects of habits, impulses, and nonconscious goals, occur through the activation of cognitive structures by environmental cues. Interventions can therefore focus on changing these cognitive structures (training interventions, such as conditioning, attentional bias modification, response inhibition, etc.), or on changing which cognitive structures get activated (cueing interventions, such as priming, nudging, etc.). I will then introduce goal priming as a cueing intervention tool to activate health goals and thus facilitate healthier behaviour, even in tempting environments that typically activate short-term hedonic goals. After a review of empirical evidence, mainly from the domain of eating behaviour, five principles for the effective application of health goal primes will be proposed, namely 1) to target individuals who value the primed goals, 2) by activating their long-term motivation 3) through cues that effectively tap into that motivation and which 4) attract attention at the right time. Finally, 5) an effective goaldirected behaviour needs to be known and accessible to the primed individual. I will briefly illustrate these principles in order to facilitate their application for successful behaviour change.
689
associated with greater BMI levels. However, the relationship between all of these factors has yet to be explored. Therefore, the current research aimed to explore this relationship and the associations with emotional eating and negative urgency. 126 students completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), UPPS-P Impulsivity measure, Emotional Eating Scale (EES), Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) and the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. A serial mediation model revealed a significant indirect pathway between alexithymia total scores and BMI, b ¼ .0011, SE ¼ .0012, 95% bootstrap confidence interval: .0000-.0061. The model showed that individuals who experience higher levels of alexithymia have an increased vulnerability to symptoms of depression, which in turn leads to a greater tendency to act rashly in response to negative affect, increasing the propensity to engage in emotional eating and therefore an elevated risk of a high BMI. This expands on previous research incorporating a number of factors within a single model and suggests that techniques to increase one's understanding of emotions may help to reduce levels of emotional eating which in turn can have a positive effect on BMI. BEATING TEMPTATION: THE USE OF COMPUTERISED INHIBITION TRAINING TO COMBAT CHILD OBESITY Lucy Porter, Frederick Verbruggen, Mahmood Javaid, Natalia Lawrence. School of Psychology, Perry Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QG, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Porter).
Around one in five children leave primary school obese. A main cause of obesity is overeating in a food-rich environment. Training adults to inhibit motor responses (keyboard presses) to images of energy-dense (ED) foods in a go/no-go task has led to reduced food intake in the laboratory and weight-loss in the real-world. In three similar studies, we investigated whether similar training could encourage children aged 5e11 years to make healthier snack choices. In the active training, healthy foods were paired with Go signals and ED foods were paired with No-Go signals. In the control training, all food images were paired equally with both signals. One hundred and thirty-two children from schools in Exeter participated. Overall, children in the active group chose a greater number of healthy foods in a subsequent virtual shopping (choice) task. However, when the studies were examined separately, only one revealed a significant effect of training on food choice. Training task performance data (Go RT) highlighted a possible reason for this, with active participants in the successful study demonstrating more stimulus-response learning (faster reaction times to healthy foods) compared to control participants. This effect was also evident in one of the studies whose results did not reach significance. A main difference between these two studies was the number of trained vs. novel foods in the choice task, with the successful study offering more trained foods. This suggests potential stimulus-specific learning within this population. Overall, the data suggests a positive effect of training on children’s food choice. CROSS-SECTIONAL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN PERSONALITY, EATING TO COPE, AND CONSUMPTION D.L. Reaves 1, P. Christiansen 1, E. Boyland 1, J.C.G. Halford 1, C.H. Llewellyn 2, C.A. Hardman 1. 1 Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK; 2 Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (D.L. Reaves).
EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN IMPULSIVITY, EMOTIONAL EATING AND BMI
ALEXITHYMIA,
Aimee Pink, Claire Williams, Michelle Lee. Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Pink).
When experiencing negative affect some individuals engage in emotional eating to comfort themselves. Personality traits, such as alexithymia, that involve difficulties in identifying and describing emotions may increase the propensity of such behaviour. Similarly, individuals who have a tendency to act rashly in response to negative affect may also engage in emotional eating as a coping strategy. Emotional eating has also been
Alcohol research indicates that drinking motives (e.g. drinking to cope) can predict over-consumption. Comparable motives in relation to eating (e.g. emotional eating) have also been found to predict over-eating. These eating and drinking motives may be underpinned by common personality traits, such as hopelessness and anxiety-sensitivity. However, no study to date has examined how these personality factors influence both eating and drinking motives and, in turn, food and alcohol intake. Therefore, the current study examined the associations between hopelessness and anxiety-sensitivity, eating and drinking to cope, and consumption in adults. Personality risk factors were assessed using the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale, and drinking and eating motives using the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire and the Palatable Eating Motives Scale, respectively.
be a marker of overeating. Funded by a grant to J.A.N. from the Drexel University Clinical Translational Research Institute. WALKING IN AN OBESE WOMAN’S SHOES: DOES TAKING THE PERSPECTIVE OF AN OBESE PERSON PROMOTE OVEREATING? Melissa Oldham, Eric Robinson. Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, Eleanor Rathbone Building, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Oldham).
Overweight and obese individuals eat more than their ‘normal weight’ peers. Although this is likely to be in part caused by a greater energy need, it may also be the case that once a person psychologically identifies as being ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’, they unknowingly conform to common stereotypes about obese people. Because overweight individuals are presumed by many to be ‘greedy’, identifying as an overweight or obese person could therefore promote overconsumption of indulgent foods. The aim of the present study was to examine whether temporarily identifying as an obese person affected consumption of a high calorie snack food. Female participants wore an obese bodysuit or control clothing and were either asked to walk around a public building (public) or stay in a laboratory (private), shortly before being provided with snack food. Participants in the obese bodysuit conditions consumed more cookies than in the control conditions and this effect was not dependent on whether participants wore the obese bodysuit in private or public. These findings may suggest that once a person identifies as, or takes the perspective of an obese person they will behave in a stereotype consistent manner and over-eat. HEALTH GOAL PRIMING: HOW TO BENEFIT FROM NONCONSCIOUS MOTIVATIONAL ROUTES TO HEALTH BEHAVIOR Esther K. Papies. Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, 58 Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QB, UK; Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands E-mail address: [email protected]
Recent research has shown the limited effects of intentions on behaviour, so that novel methods to facilitate behaviour change are needed that do not rely on conscious intentions. In this paper, I will argue that nonintentional effects on health behaviour, such as the effects of habits, impulses, and nonconscious goals, occur through the activation of cognitive structures by environmental cues. Interventions can therefore focus on changing these cognitive structures (training interventions, such as conditioning, attentional bias modification, response inhibition, etc.), or on changing which cognitive structures get activated (cueing interventions, such as priming, nudging, etc.). I will then introduce goal priming as a cueing intervention tool to activate health goals and thus facilitate healthier behaviour, even in tempting environments that typically activate short-term hedonic goals. After a review of empirical evidence, mainly from the domain of eating behaviour, five principles for the effective application of health goal primes will be proposed, namely 1) to target individuals who value the primed goals, 2) by activating their long-term motivation 3) through cues that effectively tap into that motivation and which 4) attract attention at the right time. Finally, 5) an effective goaldirected behaviour needs to be known and accessible to the primed individual. I will briefly illustrate these principles in order to facilitate their application for successful behaviour change.
689
associated with greater BMI levels. However, the relationship between all of these factors has yet to be explored. Therefore, the current research aimed to explore this relationship and the associations with emotional eating and negative urgency. 126 students completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), UPPS-P Impulsivity measure, Emotional Eating Scale (EES), Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) and the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. A serial mediation model revealed a significant indirect pathway between alexithymia total scores and BMI, b ¼ .0011, SE ¼ .0012, 95% bootstrap confidence interval: .0000-.0061. The model showed that individuals who experience higher levels of alexithymia have an increased vulnerability to symptoms of depression, which in turn leads to a greater tendency to act rashly in response to negative affect, increasing the propensity to engage in emotional eating and therefore an elevated risk of a high BMI. This expands on previous research incorporating a number of factors within a single model and suggests that techniques to increase one's understanding of emotions may help to reduce levels of emotional eating which in turn can have a positive effect on BMI. BEATING TEMPTATION: THE USE OF COMPUTERISED INHIBITION TRAINING TO COMBAT CHILD OBESITY Lucy Porter, Frederick Verbruggen, Mahmood Javaid, Natalia Lawrence. School of Psychology, Perry Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QG, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Porter).
Around one in five children leave primary school obese. A main cause of obesity is overeating in a food-rich environment. Training adults to inhibit motor responses (keyboard presses) to images of energy-dense (ED) foods in a go/no-go task has led to reduced food intake in the laboratory and weight-loss in the real-world. In three similar studies, we investigated whether similar training could encourage children aged 5e11 years to make healthier snack choices. In the active training, healthy foods were paired with Go signals and ED foods were paired with No-Go signals. In the control training, all food images were paired equally with both signals. One hundred and thirty-two children from schools in Exeter participated. Overall, children in the active group chose a greater number of healthy foods in a subsequent virtual shopping (choice) task. However, when the studies were examined separately, only one revealed a significant effect of training on food choice. Training task performance data (Go RT) highlighted a possible reason for this, with active participants in the successful study demonstrating more stimulus-response learning (faster reaction times to healthy foods) compared to control participants. This effect was also evident in one of the studies whose results did not reach significance. A main difference between these two studies was the number of trained vs. novel foods in the choice task, with the successful study offering more trained foods. This suggests potential stimulus-specific learning within this population. Overall, the data suggests a positive effect of training on children’s food choice. CROSS-SECTIONAL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN PERSONALITY, EATING TO COPE, AND CONSUMPTION D.L. Reaves 1, P. Christiansen 1, E. Boyland 1, J.C.G. Halford 1, C.H. Llewellyn 2, C.A. Hardman 1. 1 Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK; 2 Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (D.L. Reaves).
EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN IMPULSIVITY, EMOTIONAL EATING AND BMI
ALEXITHYMIA,
Aimee Pink, Claire Williams, Michelle Lee. Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Pink).
When experiencing negative affect some individuals engage in emotional eating to comfort themselves. Personality traits, such as alexithymia, that involve difficulties in identifying and describing emotions may increase the propensity of such behaviour. Similarly, individuals who have a tendency to act rashly in response to negative affect may also engage in emotional eating as a coping strategy. Emotional eating has also been
Alcohol research indicates that drinking motives (e.g. drinking to cope) can predict over-consumption. Comparable motives in relation to eating (e.g. emotional eating) have also been found to predict over-eating. These eating and drinking motives may be underpinned by common personality traits, such as hopelessness and anxiety-sensitivity. However, no study to date has examined how these personality factors influence both eating and drinking motives and, in turn, food and alcohol intake. Therefore, the current study examined the associations between hopelessness and anxiety-sensitivity, eating and drinking to cope, and consumption in adults. Personality risk factors were assessed using the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale, and drinking and eating motives using the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire and the Palatable Eating Motives Scale, respectively.