O’Leary, Kara (9/12) Is emotional eating an implicit construct? Examining the impact of positive and negative mood on one’s motivation to eat (Philip Wong, Ph.D.; Howard McGuire, Ph.D.;Nicholas Papouchis, Ph.D.)
Using a repeated measures design, this study examined the effects of positive and negative mood on explicit and implicit wanting for food with healthy (nondisordered) eaters. This multimethod project was geared toward understanding the degree to which the experiencing self and the remembering self do not agree, and the trouble this can create when trying to change behavior. Female participants between the ages of 18 and 30 were recruited to participate (N = 103). Participants were randomized to one of two groups and their moods were reliably manipulated by asking them to recall positive memories (or negative memories, depending on the randomized condition). Participants were then asked how much they liked and wanted to eat a particular food. Explicit wanting and liking were measured by self-report. Implicit wanting was measured by participants' response times to the food and their relative preferences for food. Results suggested that negative mood increased implicit wanting, but surprisingly, positive mood had a greater increase when controlling for self-compassion. Self-compassion also played a protective role in implicit wanting, and interacted with implicit wanting in the negative mood group. When accounting for hunger, the negative mood group showed a relative preference for sweet foods, and the positive mood group showed a relative preference for savory foods. Participants in both conditions showed a significant discrepancy between explicit wanting/liking and implicit wanting. Emotional eating correlated with explicit measures and not with implicit measures. Social desirability also correlated with explicit measures and not with implicit measures.
