Success and failure of dieting

?
  • Created by: Jack
  • Created on: 14-05-15 14:56
View mindmap
  • Success and failure of dieting
    • AO1
      • REASONS TO DIET
        • Mainly women who diet, possibly due to faulty perception of body image
          • But no evidence for this as most dieters are slightly overweight.
        • To maintain/imp-rove health
          • May lessen chance of coronary heart disease, etc
        • Copying media due to media influence
        • Typically most diets actually lead to people gaining weight.
      • BOUNDARY MODEL OF DIETARY CONSTRAI-NT
        • There are 2 controls over food intake - biological (homeostasis) and cognitive.
          • The cognitive one is variable/mov-able, it can be equal or beneath the biological one.
            • People who put the cognitive level below biological are called 'high restrainers' and are good dieters.
            • If cognitive level broken, behavioural disinhibition occurs, which means they ate much more than both levels, called the 'what the hell effect'.
          • Homeostasis =  replacing nutrients the body had used up
      • IRONIC PROCESS OF CONTROL
        • Thought suppression - the more you try not to think about something....
    • AO2
      • STUDIES
        • BOUNDARY MODEL OF DIETARY CONTRAINT
          • HERMAN AND MACK - 45 women rated tastiness of ice cream while actually being measured how much they ate
            • Group 1 had 1 high-carbohydrate preload drink, group 2 had 2, and group 3 had none.
              • Given post-hoc questionnaire, and found group 2 rated themselves as high restrainers but actually ate most ice cream.
                • Supports theory as cognitive level broken, so people overcompen-sated due to the what the hell effect.
          • Restraining anorexics have set cognitive level low, so theory says they should regularly break  this and overeat.
            • They NEVER do, which the bounday model cannot explain.
        • IRONIC PROCESS OF CONTROL
          • SOETTENS - tested high and unrestrained dieters. Found high restrainers who regularly failed diets used thought suppression.
      • DEBATES
        • Both are nature AND nurture
          • In restrain theory because biological limit is highly nature based. But cognitive element introduces nurture, which increases the flexibility and effectiveness of the theory.
        • REAL WORLD APPLICATI-ON
          • The NHS use the boundary model.
            • The old treatment for obesity was to set low cognitive limit (basically stop eating), but they always failed and overate. (This was predicted by model)
              • Now they make cognitive level lower but more achievable, and also introduce exercise.
      • ISSUES
        • CULTURE - dieting found in individualistic cultures, not collectivist.
          • Limits effectiveness of theories as cannot explain collectivist dieting as it doesn't traditionally occur there.
            • But this can be seen as a strength as the theories are explaining dieting where it happens.
      • RESEARCH METHODS
        • Only female participants used
          • Possibly a biased sample (can't explain why male diets fail) but...
            • ...main dieting gender is females, so research is representati-ve of target population.
              • Increases external validity of research and therefore increases support for boundary model
        • Post-hoc questionnaire used in Herman and Mack study
          • Increases internal validity as there are fewer demand characteristi-cs (realising what the study is really testing)
          • Size of groups after this were unequal (number of high/low restrainers)
            • Reduces internal validity as support for the theory only given by small number of participants.
      • SUCCESS OF DIETING
        • These theories can expalin how dieting should succeed:
          • SETTING MANAGE-ABLE GOALS .
            • This lowers cognitive level slightly, reducing chance of behavioural disinhibition and overeating
          • KEEP A FOOD DIARY
            • We have a bad memory of what we have eaten, so doing this makes it easier to remember and not overeat.
          • GROUP DIETS 9e.g. WeightWatcherss)t
            • Role of SLT, peer pressure and suppor
          • In extreme cases (e.g. hormonal disorders) biological treatments like drugs and surgery (gastric band/bypass) can be used.

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Eating disorders resources »