132 Dieting
limited either by the diet boundary or the satiety boundary. The boundary
model has also been used to examine differences between dieters, binge
eaters, anorexics; and normal eaters. This comparison is shown in figure 7.5.
A binge eater may not be aware of satiety and so eats to capacity, and the
anorexic may not be aware of hunger, or may choose to ignore it and so
eats according to cognitive rather than biological drives.
Cognitive shiftsThe overeating found in dieters has also been understood in terms of shifts
in the individual’s cognitive set. Primarily this has been described in terms
of a breakdown in the dieter’s self-control reflecting a “motivational collapse”
and a state of giving in to the overpowering drives to eat (Herman and
Polivy, 1975, 1980). Ogden and Wardle (1991) analyzed the cognitive set
of the disinhibited dieter and suggested that such a collapse in self-control
reflected a passive model of overeating, and that the “What the Hell effect”
as described by Herman and Polivy (1984) contained elements of passivity
Figure 7.4 The boundary model of overeating. (Source: C.P. Herman and
J.A. Polivy, A boundary model for the regulation of eating, in A.J. Stunkard
and E. Stellar (eds.) Eating and Its Disorders, New York: Raven Press, 1984,
pp. 141–56.)
Image not available in the electronic edition