Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Obesity is one of the largest health epidemics facing developed nations.Research suggests that obesity and overeating are influenced by a range of factors, including social psychological factors.The purpose of the present study is to examine the interplay between normative social influence and self-regulatory resource depletion on unhealthy eating.Participants were ostensibly in a study on taste preferences in college students, where they consumed an unhealthy food (cookies).Participants were randomly assigned to one cell in a 2 (Depletion or Control) X 3 (Augmentation Norm, Restriction Norm, or Control) completely between-participants design.First, participants performed a difficult task (depletion condition) or an easy task (control condition) prior to consuming the tempting food.Second, participants were led to believe that other participants had eaten a large amount of food (augmentation norm), a small amount of food (restriction norm), or they were given no norm information (control condition).The main outcome measure was the amount of food the participant ate during the session.It was hypothesized that the impact of the norm information (augmentation or restriction) would be amplified when self-regulatory resources have been depleted.Hypotheses were not supported.Possible explanations for results are discussed.
Author: Erin A. Vogel
Institution: University of Toledo
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2316183514