The Psychology of Eating: From Healthy to Disordered Behavior

Dieting 129

preload/taste-test paradigm (Herman and Mack, 1975). This experimen-
tal method was a development of the taste-test method originally used by
Schachter in the 1960s, and involves giving subjects either a high-calorie
preload (e.g., a high-calorie milkshake or a chocolate bar) or a low-calorie
preload (e.g., water or a cracker). After eating or drinking the preload,
subjects are asked to take part in a taste test. Subjects are asked to rate a
series of different foods (e.g., cookies, snacks, ice cream) for a variety of
different qualities such as saltiness, preference, and sweetness. The subjects
are left alone for a set amount of time to rate the foods and then the amount
they have eaten is weighed (the subjects do not know that this will happen).
The aim of the preload/taste-test method is to measure food intake in
a controlled environment (the laboratory) and to examine the effect of
preloading on eating behavior. The results from this first study are illustrated
in figure 7.3. They indicated that whereas the nondieters showed com-
pensatory regulatory behavior, and ate less after the high-calorie preload,
the dieters consumed more in the taste test if they had had the high-calorie
preload than the low-calorie preload. It is equivalent to eating more at
lunchtime after eating breakfast than if breakfast has been missed.

Mass eaten (g)

250

200

150

100

50

(^0) Nondieters
Group
Dieters
Low-calorie preload
High-calorie preload
Figure 7.3 Dieting and overeating. (Source: P. Herman and D. Mack, Restrained
and unrestrained eating, Journal of Personality, 43 (1975), pp. 646 – 60.)