Focusing on media body ideal images triggers food intake among restrained eaters: a test of restraint theory and the elaboration likelihood model.

Although research consistently shows that images of thin women in the media (media body ideals) affect women negatively (e.g., increased weight dissatisfaction and food intake), this effect is less clear among restrained eaters. The majority of experiments demonstrate that restrained eaters - identified with the Restraint Scale - consume more food than do other participants after viewing media body ideal images; whereas a minority of experiments suggest that such images trigger restrained eaters' dietary restraint. Weight satisfaction and mood results are just as variable. One reason for these inconsistent results might be that different methods of image exposure (e.g., slideshow vs. film) afford varying levels of attention. Therefore, we manipulated attention levels and measured participants' weight satisfaction and food intake. We based our hypotheses on the elaboration likelihood model and on restraint theory. We hypothesised that advertent (i.e., processing the images via central routes of persuasion) and inadvertent (i.e., processing the images via peripheral routes of persuasion) exposure would trigger differing degrees of weight dissatisfaction and dietary disinhibition among restrained eaters (cf. restraint theory). Participants (N = 174) were assigned to one of four conditions: advertent or inadvertent exposure to media or control images. The dependent variables were measured in a supposedly unrelated study. Although restrained eaters' weight satisfaction was not significantly affected by either media exposure condition, advertent (but not inadvertent) media exposure triggered restrained eaters' eating. These results suggest that teaching restrained eaters how to pay less attention to media body ideal images might be an effective strategy in media-literary interventions.

[1]  Elisabeth Schramm,et al.  Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression , 2016, The Lancet.

[2]  J. Polivy,et al.  Comparison Between Weight‐Preoccupied Women and Anorexia Nervosa , 1984, Psychosomatic medicine.

[3]  E. Erdfelder,et al.  Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses , 2009, Behavior research methods.

[4]  J. Schimel,et al.  Preliminary support for links between media body ideal insecurity and women's shoe and handbag purchases. , 2012, Body image.

[5]  D. D. de Ridder,et al.  Feeding Your Feelings: Emotion Regulation Strategies and Emotional Eating , 2010, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[6]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  Attitudes and Persuasion: Classic and Contemporary Approaches , 1981 .

[7]  R. Gonzalez.  Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences , 2003 .

[8]  L. M. Irving,et al.  COMPARISON OF MEDIA-LITERACY PROGRAMS TO STRENGTHEN COLLEGE WOMEN'S RESISTANCE TO MEDIA IMAGES , 2001 .

[9]  J. Polivy,et al.  Distress and eating: why do dieters overeat? , 1999, The International journal of eating disorders.

[10]  P. Gollwitzer.  Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. , 1999 .

[11]  S. Brooks,et al.  Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences , 1993 .

[12]  Robert S. Baron,et al.  Distraction Can Enhance or Reduce Yielding to Propaganda: Thought Disruption Versus Effort Justification , 1976 .

[13]  W. Stroebe,et al.  Ironic processes in the eating behaviour of restrained eaters. , 2002, British journal of health psychology.

[14]  A. Doyle,et al.  The paradoxical effect of diet commercials on reinhibition of dietary restraint. , 1994, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[15]  J. Thompson,et al.  An evaluation of the Tripartite Influence Model of body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance with adolescent girls. , 2004, Body image.

[16]  Laurette Dubé,et al.  Affect asymmetry and comfort food consumption , 2005, Physiology & Behavior.

[17]  C. Ellis,et al.  Restrained eating and sociocultural attitudes to appearance and general dissatisfaction. , 2000 .

[18]  E. Wertheim,et al.  Applying the Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion to a Videotape-Based Eating Disorders Primary Prevention Program for Adolescent Girls , 2004, Eating disorders.

[19]  J. Polivy,et al.  Dieting and binging. A causal analysis. , 1985, The American psychologist.

[20]  E. Stice,et al.  Age of onset for binge eating and purging during late adolescence: a 4-year survival analysis. , 1998, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[21]  John T. Cacioppo,et al.  The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion , 1986, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.

[22]  W. Stroebe.  Dieting, Overweight, and Obesity: Self-Regulation in a Food-Rich Environment , 2008 .

[23]  D. Zald,et al.  Relation of obesity to consummatory and anticipatory food reward , 2009, Physiology & Behavior.

[24]  Jennifer S. Mills,et al.  Effects of Exposure to Thin Media Images: Evidence of Self-Enhancement among Restrained Eaters , 2002 .

[25]  D. D. de Ridder,et al.  Double trouble: restrained eaters do not eat less and feel worse , 2013, Psychology & health.

[26]  J. Polivy,et al.  Implicit and explicit attitudes toward fatness and thinness: The role of the internalization of societal standards. , 2005, Body image.

[27]  R. Baer.  Mindfulness Training as a Clinical Intervention: A Conceptual and Empirical Review , 2003 .

[28]  J. Polivy,et al.  Eating behavior, restraint status, and BMI of individuals high and low in perceived self-regulatory success , 2014, Appetite.

[29]  J. Thompson,et al.  Body Image and Televised Images of Thinness and Attractiveness: A Controlled Laboratory Investigation , 1995 .

[30]  Sarah K. Murnen,et al.  The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body satisfaction: a meta-analytic review. , 2002, The International journal of eating disorders.

[31]  D. Gleaves,et al.  Positive fantasies or negative contrasts: the effect of media body ideals on restrained eaters' mood, weight satisfaction, and food intake. , 2013, Body image.

[32]  C. Carver,et al.  Control theory: a useful conceptual framework for personality-social, clinical, and health psychology. , 1982, Psychological bulletin.

[33]  A. Dinkel,et al.  Deutsche Adaptation der Restraint Scale zur Erfassung gezügelten Essverhaltens , 2005 .

[34]  Helga Dittmar,et al.  Think 'thin' and feel bad: the role of appearance schema activation, attention level, and thin-ideal internalization for young women's responses to ultra-thin media ideals , 2005 .

[35]  W. Stroebe,et al.  Fear signals inhibit impulsive behavior toward rewarding food objects , 2011, Appetite.

[36]  Bill Thornton,et al.  Physical Attractiveness Contrast Effect: Implications for Self-Esteem and Evaluations of the Social Self , 1993 .

[37]  C. Carver.  You want to measure coping but your protocol’ too long: Consider the brief cope , 1997, International journal of behavioral medicine.

[38]  M. Tiggemann,et al.  Disclaimer labels on fashion magazine advertisements: effects on social comparison and body dissatisfaction. , 2013, Body image.

[39]  R. Engels,et al.  The effects of TV commercials using less thin models on young women's mood, body image and actual food intake. , 2009, Body image.

[40]  Tatjana van Strien,et al.  The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) for assessment of restrained, emotional, and external eating behavior , 1986 .

[41]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  Effects of message repetition and position on cognitive response, recall, and persuasion. , 1979 .

[42]  A. Jansen,et al.  Pre-attentive exposure to the thin female beauty ideal does not affect women's mood, self-esteem and eating behaviour , 2002 .

[43]  Stephen C. Want,et al.  The Influence of Television Programs on Appearance Satisfaction: Making and Mitigating Social Comparisons to “Friends” , 2009 .

[44]  Diana Adler,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 2016 .

[45]  F. Weiss,et al.  Exacting Beauty: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment of Body Image Disturbance , 2000 .

[46]  Kristen Harrison,et al.  The body electric: thin‐ideal media and eating disorders in adolescents , 2000 .

[47]  C. Meyer,et al.  Effects of distraction and focused attention on actual and perceived food intake in females with non-clinical eating psychopathology , 2011, Appetite.

[48]  M. Zanna,et al.  Don't take another bite: how sociocultural norms for appearance affect women's eating behavior. , 2007, Body image.

[49]  C. S. Warren,et al.  Inspiring or dispiriting? The effect of diet commercials on snack food consumption in high school and college-aged women. , 2005, The International journal of eating disorders.

[50]  E. Papies,et al.  Inspiration or deflation? Feeling similar or dissimilar to slim and plus-size models affects self-evaluation of restrained eaters. , 2012, Body image.

[51]  Fiona J Monro,et al.  Media-portrayed idealized images, self-objectification, and eating behavior. , 2006, Eating behaviors.

[52]  Eric Stice,et al.  Are dietary restraint scales valid measures of acute dietary restriction? Unobtrusive observational data suggest not. , 2004, Psychological assessment.

[53]  Rae R. Newton,et al.  Your statistical consultant : answers to your data analysis questions , 2013 .

[54]  W. Stroebe.  Restrained eating and the breakdown of self-regulation. , 2008 .

[55]  Marcel Zeelenberg,et al.  Why Envy Outperforms Admiration , 2011, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[56]  E. Stice,et al.  Relation of dietary restraint to bulimic symptomatology: the effects of the criterion confounding of the Restraint Scale. , 1997, Behaviour research and therapy.

[57]  E. Stice.  Relations of restraint and negative affect to bulimic pathology: a longitudinal test of three competing models. , 1998, The International journal of eating disorders.

[58]  Richard E. Petty,et al.  Increasing the Effectiveness of Communications to Consumers: Recommendations Based on Elaboration Likelihood and Attitude Certainty Perspectives , 2006 .

[59]  Stephen C. Want,et al.  Meta-analytic moderators of experimental exposure to media portrayals of women on female appearance satisfaction: Social comparisons as automatic processes. , 2009, Body image.

[60]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[61]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  Issue involvement can increase or decrease persuasion by enhancing message-relevant cognitive responses. , 1979 .

[62]  J. Kevin Thompson,et al.  Body image, mood, and televised images of attractiveness: The role of social comparison. , 2000 .

[63]  L. Curtin,et al.  Examining "fat talk" experimentally in a female dyad: how are women influenced by another woman's body presentation style? , 2007, Body image.

[64]  R. Engels,et al.  Exposure to slim images in mass media: television commercials as reminders of restriction in restrained eaters. , 2008, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[65]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using multivariate statistics, 5th ed. , 2007 .