PSYA3 Eating Behaviour

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Discuss the reasons for success or failure of dieting

Many dieters take part in restrained eating, this may be: not eating certain foods, eating fewer calories than needed or not eating at certain times. Herman and Mack devised the restraint theory as an explanation of why diets fail. They argue that restrictive eating leads to an increased chance of dieters to overeating. To explain this they devised a boundary model which. The model suggests that hunger keeps intake of food above a certain minimum and satiety keeps intake below a maximum level. However dieters tend to have a larger range between hunger and satiety as it takes more food to satisfy them. Diets tend to fail due to restrained eaters going over their desired intake, as after having broken this diet boundary they continue eating until they reach satiety, which is larger than that of an average range, causing weight gain.

An additional explanation for the failure of dieting comes from Wegner’s theory of denial. He argued this to be a ‘theory of ironic process of mental control’ as dieters, having denied themselves of certain foods, tend to think about these foods much more than often. Such preoccupations may lead the dieter to succumb to their desires of eating such forbidden foods.

Support for Restraint theory comes from Herman and Mack’s preload test where dieters and non-dieters were either given a high calorie milkshake or a placebo, with no calorie content. After this, participants were asked to do what they believed to be a taste-test, however what was being measured was how much food they ate. The preload had no effect on the non-dieters, however this was not the case fro the dieters. Of those who drank the high calorie milkshake, having gone over their diet limit, began to eat excessively. Thus we see that eating over the diet restriction triggers excessive eating, causing not only a failure in the diet, but increased weight gain also.

This study, therefore the theory are supported by Wardle and Beales who found in their study of 27 obese women that the restrained group consumed the most food. However Kirkley et al. found restrained eaters consumed much less than any other groups, thus implying that individual differences such as determinism or level of control are influential in diets. Restraint theory may be criticised for its determinism and assumption that all diets fail. Additionally this flaw of the theory means that it cannot explain why many anorexics are able to starve themselves and lose excessive amounts of weight.

Wegner’s theory of denial cannot explain this either. However it appears valid as in his study, after instructing participants not to think of a white bear, many struggled not to do so, thus implying that denial leads to a preoccupation of the thing denied. This feature is also apparent in anorexics as many appear to have an obsession with food, yet once again it may be argued that what prevents them from giving in to such foods is factors of self control.

Not all diets fail, Redden put forward that a key to success in a diet in detail. He argues that by dieters placing detail and emphasis on their diet meals, these appear interesting, so they are more likely to stick to them.

Support comes from his jellybean study in which 135 participants were made to eat twenty-two jellybeans. In one condition participants were given basic information such as ‘jelly bean number seven’, whilst in the other condition participants were given more detail, such as ‘cherry flavoured jelly bean number seven’. Participants who were in the second condition were less bored and enjoyed the task more; suggesting that detail leads to interest in a diet. Therefore dieters will be more committed due to this interest and more likely to succeed in their diet.

It may be questioned to what extent these findings can be applied to actual diets. Having been conducted in an artificial setting, the experiment lacks ecologic validity. In addition to this there is a lack of mundane realism as eating jellybeans does not reflect a diet in which lifestyle and food choices may drastically change.

A benefit of all these theories is that dieticians or diet groups may use them in order to help dieters succeed. Diet groups such as Weight watchers focus in the psychological aspect of dieting. They take into account Wegner’s theory of denial and teacher diets that there are no restrictions as they are not denied certain foods and can have them in moderation.

Such studies on dieting e.g. Wardle and Beales, and Herman and Mack have are only conducted on women. This means there’s a gender bias as we cannot generalise the reasons for success or failure of dieting onto men. Men must also be studied in such research as dieting. Although women are more likely to diet, men must also be considered in order to tackle in weight issues among society.