title: A prime a day keeps calories away: The effects of supraliminal priming on food consumption and the moderating role of gender and eating restraint.
abstract: The link between intentions and action in weight control is weaker than previously thought, so recent research has called for further investigation of ways to improve weight control that bypass conscious intentions. Priming has been shown to have effects on individual behavior in a variety of contexts by influencing subconscious cognition. This paper investigates the effects of semantic priming using healthy body image, goal-oriented words on food consumption. The moderating role of both restrained eating and gender is investigated. 161 participants were involved in an experiment using a novel version of a scrambled sentence priming game. The outcome measure was the number of kilocalories consumed, examined using a between subjects ANCOVA with priming, gender, restrained eating index, self-reported BMI, and two interaction terms (primingxgender, and primingxrestrained eating index). There was no main effect of priming but there was an interaction of priming with gender. Females consumed significantly fewer kilocalories after being exposed to priming words related to a healthy body image (i.e. "slim", "fit,") compared to females receiving the neutral prime, with a medium effect size (d = 0.58). The body image prime did not significantly affect food intake for males, nor did it have a differential effect on restrained eaters. This study shows that priming can be an effective method for influencing females to reduce food intake, regardless of whether they are restrained or unrestrained eaters. Future studies could investigate whether different priming words related to a male's healthy body image goal (i.e. "buff," "muscles," etc.) would similarly reduce food intake for males.
authors.affiliation: University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Shidler College of Business, 2404 Maile Way, E601f, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States. Electronic address: rminas@hawaii.edu.
authors.forename: Randall K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Minas
authors.affiliation: University of San Diego, School of Business, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110, United States. Electronic address: poormorgan@sandiego.edu.
authors.forename: Morgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poor
authors.affiliation: Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, 1275 E 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States. Electronic address: ardennis@indiana.edu.
authors.forename: Alan R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Dennis
authors.affiliation: University of Denver, United States. Electronic address: valerie.bartelt@du.edu.
authors.forename: Valerie L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Bartelt
mesh_terms: D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology; D001835:Body Weight; D031204:Caloric Restriction / Q000523:psychology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body image; Eating behavior; Food; Food intake; Gender; Priming; Restrained eaters