Biomedical subjects

C P Herman

Publications and source records attributed to C P Herman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

At first sight: how do restrained eaters evaluate high-fat palatable foods?

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that restrained eaters display a greater liking for high-fat palatable foods, than do unrestrained eaters. This hypothesis was tested in the affective priming paradigm and in the extrinsic affective Simon task . Both paradigms were successful in uncovering food likes and dislikes, and both showed that participants were able to evaluate the palatability of foods relatively automatically. However, contrary to the hypothesis, food likes were not substantially affected by fat content, nor were they affected by restraint-status. Restrained and unrestrained eaters may like high-fat palatable foods to the same extent, but may differ in their craving for these foods.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Self-presentational conflict in social eating situations: a normative perspective.

This study explored the degree to which people adhere to norms for "appropriate" eating behavior in social situations. Of particular interest was how people determine what is appropriate behavior when they are faced with conflicting norms within a given situation. Participants tasted cookies while alone or while observed by the experimenter. Furthermore, participants were assigned to either a "no norm" condition in which they were given no indication of how much other people in the study had eaten, an "inhibition norm" condition in which they were led to believe that others had eaten minimally, or an "augmentation norm" condition in which they were led to believe that others in the study had eaten a lot. When they were alone, participants were influenced by the norms; but when they were observed, they ate minimally, regardless of the norms to which they were exposed. It seems that a norm for minimal eating superseded a matching norm which prescribes that people should use the intake of their peers as a guide for appropriate behavior. Implications of these findings and limitations of the study were discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Distress and eating: why do dieters overeat?

OBJECTIVE: It has been shown that distress suppresses eating in nondieters (unrestrained eaters), but increases it in chronic dieters (restrained eaters). This study attempted to investigate several possible explanations for this phenomenon, in particular, the "masking hypothesis." This hypothesis states that dieters use overeating to mask their distress in other areas of their lives by eating when distressed so that they can attribute their distress to their overeating rather than to more uncontrollable aspects of themselves or their lives. In addition, comfort, learned helplessness, and distraction explanations were investigated. METHOD: Female college student subjects were led to believe that they had or had not failed at a cognitive task, then were either given ad libitum or just three small spoonfuls of ice cream to taste and rate. RESULTS: It was predicted that restrained subjects who ate ad libitum following failure would attribute more of their distress to their eating than would those who were allowed only a taste of ice cream. The results were more complicated than predicted. They indicated that the masking, distraction, and helplessness hypotheses all received some support in the present study and that they may work in tandem with each other. DISCUSSION: The results suggest that distress-induced overeating in restrained eaters may serve psychological functions for the individual, allowing for distraction from the distress or masking of the source of dysphoria. The possible relevance of these results to bulimic patients who may use their binges to mask the true source of their distress is discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

The effects of resolving to diet on restrained and unrestrained eaters: the "false hope syndrome".

OBJECTIVE: The persistence of dieters' weight loss efforts, despite repeated failures, suggests that there must be some interim reinforcement for dieting that sustains the behavior. We propose that self-change efforts capitalize on a "false hope syndrome," in which the initial commitment to change brings immediate rewards (largely improvements in self-image), regardless of the eventual outcome. METHOD: Eighty female students chose whether they would attempt either to reduce their weight or to increase their study time over a 2-week period. A control group did not attempt self-change. RESULTS: The effects of making a resolution to change differed for novice and veteran self-changers (nondieters and chronic dieters). Nondieters showed an immediate improvement in their mood and self-image after making a resolution, but this subjective improvement dissipated over the course of the study. Veteran dieters showed a mixed response, initially feeling both more depressed, yet more hopeful of success. DISCUSSION: These results are discussed in terms of variations on the false hope syndrome for different kinds of individuals (novices and veterans).

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Effects of attentional focus on subjective hunger ratings.

Food-deprived and non-deprived non-dieters rated their hunger and fullness during a <<< >>> period and then during three counterbalanced video presentations-a control video, a video featuring palatable food cues and an absorbing non-food video. The food-cue video increased hunger ratings for both deprived and non-deprived participants. The absorbing non-food video decreased hunger for deprived (but not for non-deprived) participants. Changes in fullness ratings were not simply the complement of changes in hunger ratings. The discussion focuses on the cognitive mediators of hunger perception.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

Weight gain after smoking cessation in women: the impact of dieting status.

OBJECTIVE: The fear of weight gain appears to be a barrier to quitting in some smokers, particularly in women. However, not all female smokers have the same concerns about weight, and not all quitters are equally susceptible to gaining weight after cessation. We hypothesized that among females, dieters, compared to nondieters, would report more weight gain after smoking cessation and would tend to smoke more for weight control purpose. METHOD: Undergraduate college students were surveyed to assess their smoking status, dieting status, postcessation weight gain, and their motivations to smoke. RESULTS: Among former smokers, dieters reported considerably more weight gain than nondieters. Dieters were more likely to have started, and to have continued smoking in order to control their weight, and among current smokers, dieters reported having had shorter quit attempts. DISCUSSION: The dieters/former smokers' comparatively high weight gain after smoking cessation is discussed in terms of possible changes in dietary intake, metabolic rate, and physical activity.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Effects of false weight feedback on mood, self-evaluation, and food intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters.

Restrained and unrestrained eaters were weighted 5 lb (2.27 kg) heavier or 5 lb lighter than their actual weight or were not weighed at all. Unrestrained eaters and restrained eaters who were told they weighed 5 lb less were not affected by the false weight feedback. However, restrained eaters who were informed that they weighted 5 lb more reported lower self-esteem, less positive moods, and more negative moods than did restrained eaters in the other 2 conditions. Furthermore, restrained eaters who were led to believe that they weighed heavier ate significantly more food during a subsequent "taste test" than did each of the other groups. Restrained eaters who believed that they were heavier experienced lowered self-worth and a worsening of mood that led them to relinquish their dietary restraint and overindulge in available food. Implications for patients with eating disorders are discussed.

Affect↗

PubMed1998

Asymmetrical hemispheric activation and behavioral persistence: effects of unilateral muscle contractions.

Contractions of the left hand and of the left side of the lower third of the face induce negative emotional states whereas right-sided contractions induce positive states. Contractions also have mood-congruent influences on perception. This article reports that contractions affect behavior as well. Persistence in attempting to solve insoluble problems is greater following right-sided contractions than following left-sided contractions. This effect is unrelated to dominance of the contracted muscles because right-handed individuals tend to be left-face dominant. Results support the hypothesis that unilateral contractions activate the contralateral cerebral hemispheres and arouse the hemispheres' respective functions with regard to emotion and behavior.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

The effect of pre-exposure to food cues on the eating behavior of restrained and unrestrained eaters.

This study investigated the effect of pre-exposure to two types of food cues (olfactory and cognitive) on food intake by restrained and unrestrained eaters. Subjects were exposed to either no cue, an olfactory cue, a cognitive cue or a combination of the two types of food cues for ten minutes prior to eating. Restrained eaters ate significantly more than did unrestrained eaters after exposure to the food cues. There was no difference in food intake when there was no pre-exposure to the cues. Although baseline subjective ratings were equivalent for both groups of subjects, after cue pre-exposure, restrained subjects, in keeping with their increased consumption, indicated a significantly greater craving, liking, and desire to eat the cued food (pizza) than did the unrestrained subjects. These findings suggest that restrained eaters are more sensitive and reactive to food cues than are unrestrained eaters. The food cues appeared to generate an appetitive urge to eat in restrained eaters.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Human eating: diagnosis and prognosis.

Despite substantial recent progress, we remain without a comprehensive theory of human eating. The constraining influence of the single-factor, hunger-satiety model of feeding in animals is addressed. Three aspects of human eating--counter-regulation in dieters, the effects of social models, and the influence of distress on eating--are reviewed briefly, in an attempt to demonstrate that a simple hunger-satiety model cannot handle the data. It is imperative that we consider social, cognitive, and other influences on eating as important casual agents in their own right; these influences are not necessarily mediated by their effect on hunger-satiety. A comprehensive theory of human eating is not likely to appear soon, but there are grounds for optimism in the process (rather than the final result) of research.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Hunger-induced finickiness in humans.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effect of hunger on finickiness in humans. Subjects (a total of 157 undergraduate female dieters and non-dieters) were food-deprived and then subsequently either given a snack (not-hungry group) or left food-deprived (hungry group) before being given ad libitum access to either good-tasting or bad-tasting (quinine-adultered) milkshake. Common sense predicted that hungry subjects would drink more milkshake than would not-hungry subjects, regardless of milkshake palatability. Hungry subjects did in fact drink more of the good-tasting milkshake than did not-hungry subjects, but they also drank less of the bad-tasting milkshake. We discuss possible reasons why hunger might increase rejection of bad-tasting food, as well as the limiting conditions of the effect.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

Social facilitation of eating among friends and strangers.

Research suggests that meals eaten with other people are larger than meals eaten alone. The effect of group size and acquaintance on consumption was investigated by serving dinner to female subjects alone, in pairs or in groups of four. Subjects dined alone, with friends or with strangers. Subjects in both pairs and groups of four ate more than did subjects alone, suggesting that the mere presence of others is more important in enhancing intake than the specific number of people present. Subjects with friends ate more dessert than subjects with strangers, indicating that the relationship of dining companions is an important factor contributing to social facilitation.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Food restriction and binge eating: a study of former prisoners of war.

Food restriction is correlated with binge eating, but evidence that restriction leads to binge eating is scanty. In this study we investigated postwar binge eating in 67 World War II combat veterans and 198 former prisoners of war. As predicted, binge eating was relatively rare in combat veterans but was significantly more prevalent in veterans who, as prisoners in German prisoner of war camps, lost significant amounts of weight during their captivity. Our data thus support the contention that starvation or dieting seems to precede binge eating.

Aged↗

PubMed1994

Effects of anxiety on eating: does palatability moderate distress-induced overeating in dieters?

When confronted with an anxiety-producing threat to self-esteem, restrained eaters (dieters) increase their food consumption. The functional explanation suggests that increased eating temporarily counteracts or masks dysphoria for the restrained eater; externality or stimulus sensitivity theories propose that distress shifts the dieter's attention to external stimulus properties (e.g., taste) and to activities stimulated by such external cues. In an attempt to distinguish between these two explanations, anxious and nonanxious restrained and unrestrained eaters were given palatable and unpalatable foods, and consumption was measured. Results support the functional explanations: Distressed dieters increased their intake of food regardless of taste properties. Theoretical and practical implications for both restrained eating and the behavior of eating disorder patients are discussed.

Anxiety↗

PubMed1993

Self-awareness, task failure, and disinhibition: how attentional focus affects eating.

Dieting and nondieting subjects were given either failure or neutral performance feedback on a problem-solving task. Failure subjects were then assigned to one of three self-awareness conditions: One group was forced to watch a video clip of themselves failing on the problem-solving task, one group was asked to watch a distracting video clip on bighorn sheep, and the final group was asked to sit quietly for 10 minutes. Subjects were then allowed to eat as much ice cream as they wanted. Only in those conditions which allowed--or promoted--low self-awareness (the failure/distraction and simple failure condition) did dieters show disinhibited eating. In the failure/videotape condition, which enforced high levels of self-awareness, eating in dieters remained inhibited. This supports the proposal that a reduction in self-awareness is necessary for lifting of inhibitions. Eating in nondieters was reduced in the failure/videotape and simple failure conditions, possibly because of the autonomic correlates of distress.

Achievement↗

PubMed1992

Effects of distress on eating: the importance of ego-involvement.

Schotte (1992) argued that ego threat is not a necessary precondition for the disinhibition of eating in dieters. This article agrees that there are indeed other triggers for disinhibition, as has long been widely acknowledged, but also argues that when distress does act as a trigger for disinhibition, it does so by threatening the dieter's self-image.

Arousal↗

PubMed1991

Is the effect of a social model on eating attenuated by hunger?

Two experiments were conducted to assess the effect of social influence pressures on eating in individuals differing in initial hunger; we assumed that conformity to a model would decline as hunger increased. In the first experiment, subjects' eating conformed closely to the model's eating, with subjects eating very little when the model ate very little, even after 24 h of food deprivation. In a second experiment, the conformity effect again dominated the results, even after lengthy deprivation. We discuss the implications and limitations of this powerful modelling effect on eating.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Restraint, weight loss, and variability of body weight.

Restrained and unrestrained subjects (n = 24) were weighed daily for a 6-week period and again 6 months later in order to determine whether dietary restraint or relative body weight is the better predictor of weight variability. Restraint was a significantly better predictor of naturally occurring weight fluctuations than was relative body weight. Furthermore, the 2 factors of the Restraint Scale, Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuations, were both significant predictors of weight variability. We propose that exaggerated weight fluctuations are not a natural concomitant of higher body weight but possibly the consequence of a cycle of dieting and overeating, which seems to preclude actual weight loss.

Body Weight↗