Food temptations spontaneously elicit compensatory beliefs in dieters

Abstract

Through various self-regulatory strategies, individuals attempt to strike a balance between the satisfaction of immediate desires and fulfillment of long term goals. One such strategy is described by the compensatory beliefs model, which suggests that individuals rationalize their surrender to an immediate desire or temptation. This model is indirectly supported by earlier studies where compensatory beliefs were induced by the experimental context. The current pilot study examines whether compensatory beliefs can be self-initiated i.e. are spontaneously generated as a response to temptation. We recruited ten female McGill students currently on a weight loss diet and assigned them randomly to a temptation and a control group. We presented all participants with a choice between two identical cookies, differently described for the temptation and control groups: for the temptation condition one cookie was labeled as high in fat and sugar and the other as low in fat and sugar while for the control condition both cookies were labeled as low in fat and sugar. Participants listed compensatory thoughts in both a closed and an open response format. Our pilot data show that dieters indeed spontaneously generate compensatory beliefs in response to temptation. Compensatory beliefs should be considered a factor in unsuccessful self-regulation and more specifically in failed dieting attempts.