Stress-induced eating: an alternative method for inducing ego-threatening stress.
This study was designed to assess the effectiveness of a modified Stroop test as a method of inducing ego-threatening stress in dieters. Twenty females completed a Stroop task and watched a fearful film, and then consumed ice cream, ad libitum, under the guise of a tasting-test. It was predicted that the Stroop task would trigger greater consumption of ice cream than a fearful film, and that this effect would be more pronounced for binge-eaters than non-binge-eaters. More ice cream was consumed following the Stroop task, however both binge-eaters and non-binge-eaters consumed more ice cream after the Stroop task than the film-task. This data suggests that the ego-threatening Stroop test has potential as a standardized method for use in studies of stress-induced eating.
Department of Psychology, Chester College of Higher Education, Chester, CH1 4BJ, UK. p.j.lattimore@chester.ac.uk
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Lattimore
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002032:Bulimia / Q000523:psychology*; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D004532:Ego; D004644:Emotions; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007054:Ice Cream; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology