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Biomedical subjects

C P Herman

Publications and source records attributed to C P Herman.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Effects of an observer on eating behavior: the induction of "sensible" eating.

An experiment was conducted to investigate the extent of caloric compensation to differential preloading among normally restrained and unrestrained female subjects. Subjects' eating was either explicitly observed or unobserved by the experimenter. Unrestrained eaters compensated appropriately for the preload, whether or not they were observed. Restrained eaters failed to compensate when unobserved , but compensated strongly when observed. A subsequent unobserved eating task revealed that restrained eaters failed to compensate for prior consumption when the observer was withdrawn. Implications for research and therapy are discussed.

Awareness↗
PubMed1979

Effects of a model on eating behavior: the induction of a restrained eating style.

An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of a same-sex model on females' eating behavior. The model ate either a large or small quantity along with the subject in an ad lib satiation context, and either did or did not identify herself as a dieter. Subjects were 86 female undergraduates, split into normally dieting or nondieting subgroups. Number of sandwich quarters consumed ad lib following a small fixed preload was found to vary as a function of (a) model's consumption (b) model's dieter status and (c) subject's dieter status; there were no significant interactions. A subsequent taste-rating assessment of nut consumption, in which the model was present but could neither see nor be seen by the subject, indicated that the three factors which had previously affected sandwich consumption independently combined to affect nut consumption interdependently. The results were interpreted in terms of the effect of the model on the quantity and pattern of consumption, and conclusions were drawn about the dynamics of restrained and unrestrained eating and implications for therapy.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1978

Distractibility in dieters and nondieters: an alternative view of "externality".

Two experiments were performed in an investigation of the effects of distraction and emotional arousal on the proofreading performance of dieting female subjects. In Experiment 1, it was found that distraction initially impaired the performance of dieters and facilitated the performance of nondieters, a pattern previously shown by Rodin to apply to obese and normal weight subjects, respectively, and interpreted as evidence of greater externality in the obese. Subsequent retesting of the same subjects in succeeding months, however, revealed a complete reversal of the original results. In Experiment 2, the reaction to distraction found in the first phase of Experiment 1 was obtained when subjects were in a situation of minimal threat. In a situation of high threat, the relative distractibility of dieters was reversed, as in the latter phases of Experiment 1. An explanation is offered for these data in terms of the greater emotionality of dieters, the susceptibility of cognitive performance to arousal (distraction, anxiety) manipulations, and the potentially competing effects of distraction and anxiety. Implications for the prevailing "trait" view of externality (stimulus binding) are discussed.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1977

Obesity, dieting, and the expression of "obese" characteristics.

Obese,normal, and underweight college-age subjects were divided into sub-groups of dieters and nondieters. Consumption following a preload was found to vary as a function of dieting, not obesity, with dieters exhibiting the "obese" response (absence of caloric compensation) irrespective of weight classification. Similarly, elevated levels of free fatty acids, normally found in the obese, were associated with dieting rather than obesity per se. Implications of these findings for current theories of obesity are discussed.

Body Weight↗
PubMed1976

The power of suggestion: another examination of misattribution and insomnia.

This experiment was conducted in an attempt to replicate and delimit the reverse placebo effect found by Storms and Nisbett in insomniacs. It was predicted that the reverse placebo effect would obtain when the pills' effects were described as affecting arousal (as in Storms and Nisbett's study) but that a direct suggestion effect would result when the pills were described as directly affecting sleep onset latency. Results indicated that direct suggestion effects obtained regardless of the focus of the instructions. The present study together with the findings of Kellogg and Baron call into question the reliability and clinical significance of the reverse placebo effect in the treatment of insomnia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Restrained and unrestrained eating.

Nisbett's (1972) model of obesity implies that individual differences in relative deprivation (relative to set-point weight) within obese and normal weight groups should produce corresponding within-group differences in eating behavior. Normal weight subjects were separated into hypothetically deprived (high restraint) and non-deprived (low restraint) groups. The expectation that high restraint subjects' intake would vary directly with preload size while low restraint subjects would eat in inverse proportion to preload size, was confirmed. It was concluded that relative deprivation rather than obesity per se may be the cirtical determinant of individual differences in eating behavior. Consideration was given to the concept of "restraint" as an important behavioral mechanism affecting the expression of physiologically-based hungar.

Attitude↗