Social psychological factors in tackling obesity

In the ght to reduce rising levels of obesity, a persistentobstacle is the psychological conict between things peoplewant to eat – for instance, fatty or sweet foods – and goodhealth. People have very mixed feelings and beliefs abouthealthy lifestyle options. They experience positive sensa-tions from eating foods that provide excessive calorie andsalt content, yet nding the time to exercise (which in itselfthey may nd unpleasant) is difcult. People know that richfoods are bad for them but, on the other hand, they alsoknow that moderate exercise is good for them (1). No oneescapes the psychological conict, or ‘ambivalence’ thatensues. Yet, public information campaigns insist on simplyreminding people to avoid certain foods and to exercise,rather than helping to resolve this deep-seated ambivalence.Ambivalence is an important issue because prior experi-mental evidence from the eld of social psychology revealsit to be an important obstacle to healthy behaviour. Health-related ambivalence makes it psychologically difcult toresist the temptations of unhealthy choices.Several studies illustrate the effort required to overcomeunhealthy temptations (2). In one study, young teenagerswere given the opportunity to eat a large quantity of crisps,which they consumed with glee. The experimenter thenpresented them with a jug of