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Biomedical subjects

C P Herman

Publications and source records attributed to C P Herman.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Effects of physical threat and ego threat on eating behavior.

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.

Depression↗
PubMed1989

Restraint and internal responsiveness: effects of placebo manipulations of hunger state on eating.

Restrained and unrestrained subjects were given a "vitamin" (placebo) prior to an ad-lib taste test. Subjects were either told nothing about the placebo or told that previous subjects had reported that the vitamin had made them feel either hungry or full. As predicted, restrained subjects, in two separate studies, behaved in accordance with placebo messages, eating more when given "hungry" messages than when given "full" messages. Unrestrained subjects showed an apparent reverse-placebo effect; they ate less ice cream when given "hungry" information than when given "full" information. Hunger ratings did not parallel eating behavior; possible explanations for this discrepancy are considered. We conclude that unresponsiveness to internal hunger state, and an overreliance on external cognitive cues, characterizes restrained but not unrestrained individuals.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Food perception in dieters and non-dieters.

Two studies examined dieter-non-dieter differences in food perception. There were two specific questions. First, do dieters spontaneously categorize foods in terms of emotions (e.g., guilt) more than do non-dieters? Second, do dieters perceive foods in a more complex manner than do non-dieters? Female undergraduates (N = 50 and N = 46 in the two studies) were given cards containing the names of randomly-selected generic foods (e.g., cakes, melons) and were asked to "group the foods according to how you think about them when it comes to eating them". Herman and Polivy's Restraint Scale was used to classify subjects as dieters and non-dieters. Cluster analyses of the labels used by subjects to name their groups revealed six clusters in both studies. Four of these clusters showed substantial similarity across the two studies. These were an Enjoyment Cluster, a Sensory Qualities Cluster, a No Guilt Cluster and a Nutritional Qualities Cluster. One major finding was that, in both studies, dieters had significantly higher scores on the No Guilt Cluster than did non-dieters. Thus dieters thought of food in terms of absence of guilt more than did non-dieters. With respect to the issue of complexity in perception, the findings clearly contradicted the notion that dieters simply dichotomize food into "good" and "bad" categories.

Behavior↗
PubMed1987

The illusion of counter-regulation.

The present study investigated the ad libitum eating response of dieters and non-dieters after (a) no preload, (b) a large preload (15 oz. milkshake), or (c) an extra-large preload (30 oz. milkshake). Non-dieters ate progressively less following larger preloads, exhibiting normal compensation. Dieters, however, ate more ad libitum ice cream after the large preload than after no preload, thus exhibiting the well-established "counter-regulation" effect. After the extra-large preload, dieters ate very little ice cream ad libitum, suggesting that they are responsive to satiety pressures. These results were interpreted as indicating that dieters' ad libitum eating is neither unregulated nor truly counter-regulated. We demonstrate that dieters eat more after a large preload than after a small preload (i.e. exhibit "counter-regulation") only under certain clearly specifiable conditions. Consideration of our "boundary model" helps in understanding whether regulation or counter-regulation is likely to be observed in dieters.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

The effects of self-attention and public attention on eating in restrained and unrestrained subjects.

Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of self-attention and public attention to food intake on eating by dieters and nondieters. Female dieters ate the greatest number of candies ad lib after consuming a forced two-milk shake preload; the addition of either self-attention or implied public attention, through the manipulated availability of a waste basket for the disposing of candy wrappers, inhibited eating substantially. For nondieters, the preload itself inhibited candy consumption, which declined further only under conditions of public attention to candy intake. In a second experiment, self- and public attention again inhibited the cookie consumption of preloaded dieters, but preloaded nondieters were not influenced by the attention manipulations, eating minimally in all conditions. Nondieters who were not preloaded, however, did reduce their intake in the two attention conditions. Implications for regulatory self-control were discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Palatability of sucrose before and after glucose ingestion in dieters and nondieters.

The present study examined the pleasantness of sucrose solutions as rated by dieters and nondieters, before and after the ingestion of a glucose solution. Subjects were 36 University of Toronto female undergraduates between 18 and 21 years old. After a 12 hour overnight fast, each subject tasted and rated five concentrations of sucrose solutions (2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0, and 40.0%) for pleasantness and sweetness, at three minute intervals, over five separate trials. Two trials were run before the ingestion of a 200 ml 25% glucose solution and three trials after. The dieters rated the 20% and 40% sucrose solutions tasted prior to glucose ingestion as significantly less pleasant than did the nondieters; this difference was evident after glucose ingestion as well. A decrease in the palatability of the sucrose solutions induced by the glucose load (negative alliesthesia) was evident in both groups of subjects. Results were interpreted as requiring reconsideration of the assumption that dieters are below their set-points for body weight. Consideration of the role of cognitive factors in the perceived palatability of sweets may also be required.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Obesity, externality, and susceptibility to social influence: an integrated analysis.

A pilot study indicated that overweight subjects are more likely to order a particular dessert in a restaurant when the waitress provides an appetizing description of that dessert and encourages the diner to order it; subjects who were not overweight were much less affected by the waitress's behavior. This effect may be interpreted in terms of the greater "externality' of overweight persons (i.e., their greater reactivity to salient food cues); alternatively, it may be seen as evidence for greater compliance by deviant (overweight) individuals. The present study examined these alternatives by separating the perceptual-cues component of the waitress's behavior from the social-influence component in a replication of the pilot study. The results indicated that both the externality and compliance interpretations were tenable. The authors suggest that these two mechanisms may be seen as facets of a more general concern on the part of overweight people to secure behavioral guidance from the external environment, physical or social.

Cues↗