Effects of Physical Threat and Ego Threat on Eating Behavior

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 138 - 143
• Main Authors: Heatherton, Todd F, Herman, C. Peter, Polivy, Janet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-01-1991
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Depression - psychology; Eating behavior disorders; Ego; Electroshock; Fear; Fear & phobias; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food; Human; Humans; Ingestion; Life Change Events; Medical sciences; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Self Concept; Social research; Threat; Human; Obesity; Feeding behavior; Diet; Anxiety; Self esteem; Personality; Stress
• ISSN: 0022-3514; 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.60.1.138

Restrained and unrestrained subjects were subjected to one of three distress manipulations prior to an ad lib taste task. The physical fear threat (anticipated electric shock) significantly decreased unrestrained subjects' eating and slightly increased restrained subjects' eating. Both ego threats (failure at an easy task or anticipating having to give a speech in front of an evaluative audience) significantly increased restrained subjects' eating but did not significantly suppress unrestrained subjects' eating. This pattern supports the proposition that physical fear differs from more general dysphoria in its effects on eating, perhaps because of the divergent effects of these two types of distress on eating control mechanisms, which in turn differ in restrained and unrestrained eaters.