questionnaire as a measure of the tendency to overeat. This also emphasized moti-
vational collapse and suggested that overeating was a consequence of the failure of
this self-control.
An alternative model of overeating contended that overeating reflected an active
decision to overeat and Ogden and Wardle (1991) argued that implicit within the ‘What
the hell effect’ was an active reaction against the diet. This hypothesis was tested using a
preload/taste test paradigm and cognitions were assessed using rating scales, interviews
and the Stroop task which is a cognitive test of selective attention. The results from two
studies indicated that dieters responded to high calorie foods with an increase in an
active state of mind characterized by cognitions such as ‘rebellious’, ‘challenging’
and ‘defiant’ and thoughts such as ‘I don’t care now in a rebellious way, I’m just going
to stuff my face’ (Ogden and Wardle 1991; Ogden and Greville 1993 see Focus on
research 6.1, page 160). It was argued that rather than simply passively giving in to
an overwhelming desire to eat as suggested by other models, the overeater may
actively decide to overeat as a form of rebellion against self-imposed food restrictions.
This rebellious state of mind has also been described by obese binge eaters who report
bingeing as ‘a way to unleash resentment’ (Loro and Orleans 1981). Eating as an
active decision may at times also indicate a rebellion against the deprivation of other
substances such as cigarettes (Ogden 1994) and against the deprivation of emotional
support (Bruch 1974).
iv) Mood modification Dieters overeat in response to lowered mood and researchers
have argued that disinhibitory behaviour enables the individual to mask their negative
mood with the temporary heightened mood caused by eating. This has been called the
‘masking hypothesis’ and has been tested by empirical studies. For example, Polivy and
Herman (1999) told female subjects that they had either passed or failed a cognitive task
and then gave them food either ad libitum or in small controlled amounts. The results in
part supported the masking hypothesis as the dieters who ate ad libitum attributed more
of their distress to their eating behaviour than to the task failure. The authors argued
that dieters may overeat as a way of shifting responsibility for their negative mood from
uncontrollable aspects of their lives to their eating behaviour. This mood modification
theory of overeating has been further supported by research indicating that dieters eat
more than non-dieters when anxious regardless of the palatability of the food (Polivy
et al. 1994). Overeating is therefore functional for dieters as it masks dysphoria and this
function is not influenced by the sensory aspects of eating.
v) The role of denial Cognitive research illustrates that thought suppression and
thought control can have the paradoxical effect of making the thoughts that the
individual is trying to suppress more salient (Wenzlaff and Wegner 2000). This has been
called the ‘theory of ironic processes of mental control’ (Wegner 1994). For example,
in an early study participants were asked to try not to think of a white bear but to ring a
bell if they did (Wegner et al. 1987). The results showed that those who were trying not
to think about the bear thought about the bear more frequently than those who were
told to think about it. Similar results have been found for thinking about sex (Wegner
et al. 1999), thinking about mood (Wegner et al. 1993) and thinking about a stigma
EATING BEHAVIOUR 157