THE BIG QUESTION: Discuss 2 or more explanations for the success and/or failure of dieting (9 + 16). By the end of this lesson you will be able to: Describe two explanations for why diets succeed or fail (AO1)

Starter In pairs - list as many diets as you can? Do you think diets are successful? Think of as many reasons as you can as to why diets are or are not successful.

Effective Dieting depends on many factors Motivation willpower genetics lifestyle medical conditions (diabetes, thyroid) support and encouragement

Restraint theory Herman and Mack (1975) Attempting NOT to eat actually increases the probability of over eating

Restraint and overeating HERMAN & MACK (1975) – preload / taste test paradigm Gave participants (dieters and non dieters) a pre-load food either high or low calorie Participants were left alone to do taste test in own time. Key factor is how much of the food they eat. Participants then told they are taking part in a taste preference test. RESULT – the dieters ate more in the taste test if they had the high calorie preload.

Restraint theory was tested by Wardle & Beales (1988) 27 obese women were divided into 3 groups for 7 weeks Group 1 – put on a diet = high restraint Group 2 – put on an exercise plan = low restraint Group 3 – neither = control Week 4 and 6 all ppts went to the lab for food intake to be monitored before & after a ‘preload’ (choc/milkshake snack Prior to the week 6 monitoring ppts had to complete a stressful test. Results – ppts in group 1 ate the most…….why do you think that is?

Polivy & Herman (1979) Sample = dieters and non-dieters Pre-load condition = one glass of milk shake = two glasses of milk shake = no milk shake Guess what? – the dieters ate more ice cream the more milk shake they had. = the all or nothing mentality

Stress and Eating Conner et al (1999) 60 students kept a hassle score for a week – each hassle was scored as 3 points. They also kept a record of the number of snacks they ate Result – a positive correlation was found

Polivy & Herman (1999) Wanted to find out what happens if dieters are caused distress. Ppts were told they had either passed or failed a cognitive test. They were then allowed to eat ice cream Dieters were more distressed about eating ice cream than failing the task! = masking hypothesis – dieters blame their emotions on their eating behaviour rather than the real reason for the distress

Boundary Model Herman and Polivy (1984) Dieters have a larger range between hunger and feeling full. It takes them longer to feel hungry and more food to feel full

White bear study Wegner at al (1987) Asked participants to NOT THINK about a white bear and ring the bell when they do They asked other participants to THINK about the bear THOSE THAT WERE TOLD TO NOT THINK ABOUT THE BEAR RANG THEIR BELLS MORE OFTEN.

Denial often backfires Wenger came up with The ‘theory of ironic processes of mental control’ When denying something it often has the opposite effect.

SUCCESS IN DIETING The key is to pay attention to the detail. REDDEN (2008): 135 participants Each given 22 jelly beans one at a time. GROUP ONE General information given Bean number 7 GROUP TWO Specific information Cherry flavored bean number 8 Participants got bored with eating beans faster if they saw the general information and enjoyed task more with the specific info.

Task 1 Complete the work sheet

Homework: Read up on the commentary. Discuss 2 or more explanations for the success and/or failure of dieting (9 + 16).