Subliminal activation of abandonment- and eating-related schemata: relationship with eating disordered attitudes in a nonclinical population.

OBJECTIVE Previous research has demonstrated that subliminal abandonment cues can facilitate eating behavior. It is believed that such eating is a response to the activation of specific core schemata. However, the precise nature of those schemata has not been established. This study examined whether the presentation of subliminal abandonment and food/shape cues results in the activation of abandonment-related or food-related schemata. METHOD Eighty-two women were exposed to one of three subliminal cues- an abandonment cue ("lonely"), an appetitive cue ("hungry"), and a neutral cue ("gallery"). They subsequently completed Stroop tasks to measure activation of relevant schemata. RESULTS Subliminal presentation of abandonment cues led to the activation of food- and shape-related schemata. In contrast, subliminal appetitive cues resulted in an activation of abandonment-related schemata. CONCLUSIONS The results show preliminary support for a multilevel cognitive model, involving indirect links between subliminal cue type and the activation of eating-related cognitions.

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