magazine issue 10 2010 / Issue 11

Successful Dieting in Tempting Environments: Mission Impossible?

• written by Guido M. van Koningsbruggen, Wolfgang Stroebe & Henk Aarts
• edited by Hans IJzerman

Boosting Self-Control of Unsuccessful Dieters

The reviewed research implies that increasing dieting goal accessibility in unsuccessful dieters should boost their ability to resist food temptations. Indeed, dieters are more successful when they are reminded of their dieting goal. For instance, dieters more often chose an apple over a Twix-bar as a gift when primed with dieting (Fishbach et al., 2003), and dieters ate less snacks after exposure to diet-products in television commercials (Anschutz, Van Strien, & Engels, 2008). However, in these studies only short-term responses were assessed and the experimenter provided the diet-reminders. For unsuccessful dieters, it would actually be more efficient if they could prime themselves with the dieting goal in tempting situations. One recent study (Van Koningsbruggen, Stroebe, Papies, & Aarts, 2010) examined whether this may be achieved by using a specific planning strategy, the formation of implementation intentions

Implementation intentions are behavioral plans which specify the when, were, and how of what one will do to reach a certain goal. Forming such detailed intentions greatly facilitates goal attainment (Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2006). In the Van Koningsbruggen et al. (2010) study, participants formed implementation intentions for several palatable food items (e.g., cookies). Participants in the implementation intentions condition were asked “Please tell yourself: The next time that I am tempted to eat cookies, then I will think of dieting!” Participants then repeated this action for four other food items. Control participants did not form these plans. Results demonstrated that, after two weeks, unsuccessful dieters consumed less of the foodstuffs after this specific act of planning than their unsuccessful counterparts in the control condition.

Conclusion

We reviewed research on the psychological processes underlying the failures and successes of dieters in resisting food temptations. In fact, in our Western food-rich environments we are surrounded by cues signaling palatable food making it far from easy for dieters to ward off all temptations. At the same time, research suggests that it is not a mission impossible for all dieters. What is on the dieter’s mind in tempting situations determines the success rate. If the dieter is consumed by thoughts of how delicious the food will be, the dieter will fail. But if the dieter manages to keep his or her long-term dieting goal in mind, he or she greatly improves the chance of success. Indeed, simple reminders of one’s diet (e.g., through exposure to a health magazine or a plan to think about your diet in tempting situations) can lead to success. Perhaps, the alleged mission impossible of exerting self-control in food-rich environments will be completed by more and more dieters after all.

References

Aarts, H. (2007). Health and goal-directed behavior: The nonconscious regulation and motivation of goals and their pursuit.Health Psychology Review, 1, 53-82.

Anschutz, D. J., Van Strien, T., & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2008). Exposure to slim images in mass media: Television commercials as reminders of restriction in restrained eaters. Health Psychology, 27, 401-408.

Bargh, J. A., & Chartrand, T. L. (1999). The unbearable automaticity of being. American Psychologist, 54, 462-479.

Baumeister, R. F., & Heatherton, T. F. (1996). Self-regulation failure: An overview. Psychological Inquiry, 7, 1-15.