Explanation for success and failure of dieting

• Dieting 


  Person intentionally restricts food intake to achieve goal e.g. weight loss

  Can lead to:

  • Success - lose weight and don't put it back on
  • Failure - fails to lose weight or loses then puts it back on

  To increase chance of success you need:

  • Realistic expectations that are flexible
  • Social support - friends, family, dieting programs
• Spiral model


  Heatherton & Polivy

  Dieting often begins in adolescence with those who experience body dissatisfaction.

  Low self esteem = ind more likely to compare them to ideal body

  
  

  Initial attempt in dieting is successful, but prolonged weight loss is hard. Some may give up but ones who stick to the plan will do it with more effort to restrict food

  This higher food restriction has physical and psychological effects e.g. depression = more prone to disinhibited eating
• Strength of spiral model

  Empirical evidence

  Many research to support this model

  Herman & Polivy - found restrained eating can lead to overeating especially when dieters experience dietary lapses when they engage in overeating

  Highlights how restraint can lead to overeating, reinforces model
• Limitation of spiral model

  Lack of long term support

  Most evidence does not provide long term solution to dieting.

  Most focus on short term psychological responses to dieting meaning it may not be applicable to all individuals - limits generalisability
• Strength of spiral model

  Realistic & practical

  Model reflects real world experiences of restriction and overeating. Model can explain why dieting can lead to weight gain overtime providing insight into the failure of many long term dieting attempts
• Limitation of spiral model

  Overemphasis on psychological factors

  Focuses on psychological aspects of dieting e.g. cognitive restraint and emotional eating that may not account for biological factors

  • e.g. genes that may influence success or failure of dieting

  Reductionist ---> decreases validity
• Ironic Processes Theory

  When individual deliberately restricts food intake to diet they become more preoccupied with thoughts of food rather than less

  
  

  Wegner - when pps told not to think about a white bear, most of them did.

  Applying this to dieting - when ind labels food as forbidden it makes the food stand out more

  
  

  Meaning they're more likely to think about the food because they're trying not to think about the food

  ---> leads to disinhibited eating, loss of self control = failure of diet
• Strength of Ironic Processes Theory

  Empirical evidence

  Most studies show attempts to suppress thoughts about food/ not eating certain foods make food even more tempting

  • Adriannse et al - supressing thoughts about food increased cravings leading to overeating

  Most evidence is experimental evidence
• Strength of Ironic Processes Theory


  Realistic and practical

  Model offers explanation for why overfocusing on food restrictions can lead to failure of dieting

  + Broad applicability - model isn't limited to dieting, it can be applied to range of behaviours
• Limitation of Ironic Processes Theory


  Oversimplification

  It oversimplifies complex nature of dieting by focusing on mental supression.

  Ignores other factors e.g. environmental or social influences that may contribute to success or failure of dieting

  Decreases validity
• Limitation of Ironic Processes Theory


  Focus on short term effects

  Like spiral model, many evidence focuses on short term effects of dieting e.g. suppression of thoughts. Overlooking long term effects to dieting