This is a document with a 16 mark question. It has A03 AND A01 in a structural order and was awarded a grade A with nearly full marks. It explains the psychological factors that affect obesity.
Outline and Evaluate the Psychological explanations for obesity
The psychological explanation was first connected through second world war soldiers, put on a
restricted diet. This made them want the food more and more as they are denied it. The
psychological explanation for obesity assumes that by resurrecting the diet from food it causes
an alter in the cognitive mind and causes people to overeat. This is supported with the main
idea of the restraint theory, where eaters create a strict diet between what's good and bad.
There is an unbalance in their ginger and full level, due to the limits of food, when they do
receive it, they fill themselves up to the full extent. Disinhibition provides an example of media
imagery and cognitive control. For example, If a group were to be shown imagery of food, when
they’re eating they consume more, and continue to consume after having no self-limitation. This
all plays into the role of The Boundary Model which explains the satiety state as well as the
aversive too, depending on motivation to eat. Ultimately, causing the ‘What the hell’ effect when
they break their limit.
One strength of the psychological explanation would be that there is supporting research. Jane
Wardle and Sally Beales (1988) randomly allocated 27 obese women into 3 groups. The diet
group followed a restrained eating diet for 7 weeks. The exercise group followed an exercise
regime but did not control their eating and the control participants received treatment. The
restrained eaters consumed the most calories out of everyone, they experienced disinhibition of
their eating when they would binge being full. Therefore, these would be a strength as it shows
the outcomes of disinhibition and restrained theory. It was a causal factor of overeating that led
to weight gain and obesity.
Another strength of the theory is the effects of media that support disinhibiting. For example,
Boyce and Kuijer 2014 compared the responses of restrained and unrestrained eaters to media
images. They showed participant slide downs that constrain images of thinness. Control
participants were shown furniture. After showing the images the participants' food intake was
measured by a 10 min taste test. They were allowed to eat as much as they’re like. The results
show the significant difference in restrained eaters and therefore, conclude that the media of
images on thinness does lead to eating which provides a path to gain weight and obesity.
However, a Limitation for this explanation would hold contradictory research findings. Jennifer
Savage et al 2009 carried out one of the few longitudinal studies into restrained eating. They
measured dietary restraint and disinhibition in 163 women at the start and every two years
afterwards over a 6-year period. They measured changes in the women's weight. They found
that increases in restrained eating were linked to decreases in weight (a significant negative
correlation). The researchers conclude that restrained eaters whilst dieting lead to weight loss
rather than weight gain, an outcome in the opposite of the theory. Therefore, this would limit the
validity of the psychological explanations for obesity.
On the other hand, one strength of the explanation is that practical applications are evidenced
within the boundary model. This predicts that food intake is consciously limited, the paradoxical
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