title: Mental contrasting of a dieting wish improves self-reported health behaviour.
abstract: Mentally contrasting a desired future with present reality standing in its way promotes commitment to feasible goals, whereas mentally indulging in a desired future does not. Dieting students (N = 134) reported their most important dieting wish that they deemed attainable within a 2-week period. Then, they were directed to mentally contrast or indulge in thoughts and images about the named dieting wish. A control condition was given no directions. Two weeks after the experiment, dieters retrospectively rated their behaviour change: in the mental contrasting condition they reported having eaten relatively fewer calories overall, fewer high-calorie food and more low-calorie food compared to those in the indulging and control conditions, and they also reported having been more physically active. This transfer effect from one health domain to another suggests a more generalised effect of mental contrasting versus indulging and control than previously assumed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. kimbej@psy.au.dk
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Johannessen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oettingen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mayer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006040:Goals; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D057566:Self Report; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult