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The effect of attentional training on body dissatisfaction and dietary restriction
Author(s) -
Smith Evelyn,
Rieger Elizabeth
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.921
Subject(s) - dieting , psychology , attentional bias , eating disorders , psychological intervention , calorie , body weight , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , weight loss , cognition , medicine , obesity , psychiatry
The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of attentional training towards shape, weight and food related information on body dissatisfaction and dietary restriction. A total of 98 female participants were trained to attend to negative shape/weight words, positive shape/weight words, negative (high calorie) food words, positive (low calorie) food words or neutral words. Subsequently, a body image challenge was presented and participants' body dissatisfaction and dietary restriction were measured. Results indicated that negative shape/weight attentional biases exacerbated body dissatisfaction and a bias towards negative food words intensified dietary restriction. The study provides evidence for specificity in the effects of attentional biases and supports the notion that attentional training may be a useful component in interventions to improve body image and reduce dieting. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.