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The Effects of a List of Food Items on Motivations to Eat in Dieters and Nondieters
Author(s) -
Oakes Michael E.,
Slotterback Carole S.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb00211.x
Subject(s) - dieting , overeating , psychology , social psychology , food choice , obesity , food intake , eating behavior , developmental psychology , weight loss , medicine , pathology
A major health problem in our society is obesity, which is frequently caused by overeating or eating inappropriate foods. It has been suggested that the prevalences of food and food‐related cues contribute to overeating and that dieters are particularly sensitive to food stimuli. In the present study, the influence of dieting was examined in a representative sample of college students who were exposed to a list of written food cues or who served as controls. The list of food cues increased motivation to eat in nondieting subjects, but did not appear to influence the appetites of dieters. It may be that dieters are more resistant to the effects of more subtle food cues, even when many cues are presented sequentially.