Lay Theories of Obesity Predict Actual Body Mass

McFerran, Brent; Mukhopadhyay, Anirban

doi:10.1177/0956797612473121

Cited by 76 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…This is an unexpected result because recently some authors have showed in their work that beliefs about the causes of obesity were a good predictor of BMI (McFerran & Mukhopadhyay, 2013). However, we have found that although these beliefs are not related with weight itself, they are linked with body image perception.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

“…The reviewed literature has showed that the beliefs that people have about which are the causes of obesity may be related with their BMI (McFerran & Mukhopadhyay, 2013). According to these authors, whether a person believes obesi-ty is caused by overeating or by a lack of exercise predicts his or her actual BMI.…”

Section: * Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the reviewed literature, it is expected that beliefs that obesity is under personal control will be related with a lower BMI and, therefore, with more dietary restraint (McFerran & Mukhopadhyay, 2013). Additionally, it is expected that beliefs about the controllability of weight will be related with a perception of a heavier body image (Mikolajczyk et al, 2010), as the studies that have found that people who believe obesity is under personal control are more likely to be aware of other people's weight may suggest (Teachman, Gapinski, Brownell, Rawlins, & Jeyaram, 2003).…”

Section: * Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Beliefs about obesity and their relationship with dietary restraint and body image perception

Magallares

Carbonero-Carreño²,

Ruiz-Prieto³

et al. 2016

AN PSICOL-SPAIN

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Título: Creencias sobre las causas de la obesidad y su relación con la restricción alimentaria y la percepción de la imagen corporal. Resumen: La literatura revisada pone de manifiesto que las creencias sobre las causas de la obesidad tienen una influencia sobre el comportamiento alimentario. En este trabajo queríamos analizar la relación que puede existir entre creencias sobre la obesidad, la restricción alimentaria y la percepción de la imagen corporal. Con ese objetivo, 258 estudiantes, tanto hombres como mujeres, de un Instituto y centro de Formación Profesional de Sevilla (España) fueron reclutados para hacer el estudio. De acuerdo a los resultados obtenidos, se ha encontrado que las creencias sobre la obesidad estaban positivamente relacionadas con la restricción alimentaria y la percepción de la imagen corporal. Adicionalmente, se halló que la gente alta en creencias sobre la obesidad puntuaba más en restricción alimentaria y percepción de la imagen corporal que aquellos participantes que no creían que la obesidad estuviera bajo control personal. No se encontraron diferencias para el Índice de Masa Corporal. Finalmente se sugiere, en función de los resultados obtenidos, que para incrementar la efectividad de las campañas de salud sería necesario intervenir no solo sobre los comportamientos sino también sobre las creencias. Palabras clave: creencias sobre las causas de la obesidad; restricción alimentaria; percepción de la imagen corporal; Índice de Masa Corporal. Abstract:The reviewed literature provides evidence that beliefs about the causes of obesity may actually have an influence on eating habits. In this work we wanted to analyze the relationship that may exists between beliefs about obesity, dietary restraint and body image perception. For that purpose, 258 female and male students of a High School and Occupational Training School in Seville (Spain) were recruited to conduct the study. According to our results, it was found that beliefs about obesity were positively related with dietary restraint and body image perception. Additionally, it was found that people high in beliefs about the controllability of the weight scored more in dietary restraint and body image perception than participants that did not believe that obesity was under personal control. No differences were found in Body Mass Index. Finally, it is suggested, according to the results that we found, that in order to be effective, public health campaigns may need to target people's beliefs just as much as they target their behaviours.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

Section: * Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: * Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beliefs about obesity and their relationship with dietary restraint and body image perception

Magallares

Carbonero-Carreño²,

Ruiz-Prieto³

et al. 2016

AN PSICOL-SPAIN

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“…Additionally, when faced with an opportunity to indulge in less healthy food, people may use justification to allow themselves to eat something without feeling guilty (Prinsen et al, 2016;Taylor et al, 2014). One of the most common justifications is the belief that physical activity can compensate for poor diet quality (Kronick and Knauper, 2010;McFerran and Mukhopadhyay, 2013). This belief stems from a focus on body weight and energy balance, rather than overall diet quality.…”

Section: Food Swampsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding healthy food environments in public health practice

Gregg¹,

Chen²

2017

Environ. Health Rev.

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“…People hold the ories about seemingly everything, including genetics (Plaks, Malahy, Sedlins, & Shoda, 2012), global warming (Dunlap, 1998), and obesity (McFerran & Mukhopadhyay, 2013). Some of these theories apply to people's own selves, including lay theories about willpower (Job, Walton, Bernecker, & Dweck, 2013;Miller et al, 2012), personality traits (Beer, 2002), and moods (Igou, 2004).…”

Section: Lay Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holding a silver lining theory: When negative attributes heighten performance

Wesnousky

Oettingen

Gollwitzer

2015

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

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• Silver lining lay theories are prevalent and spontaneously generated.• For people induced with impulsivity, a silver lining theory heightens creativity.• Holding a silver lining theory increases effort invested in performance. a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Self-concept Lay theory Self-regulation Impulsivity Creativity Silver lining theory Holding a lay theory that a negative personal attribute is associated with a positive attribute (i.e., a silver lining theory), may increase effortful performance in the domain of the positive attribute. In Study 1, individuals readily generated personal silver lining theories when prompted to consider a negative attribute, and the majority of in dividuals endorsed them for themselves. In Studies 2 and 3, we investigated how believing in a silver lining the ory affected performance using the specific silver lining theory that impulsivity was associated with creativity. In both a college (Study 2) and an online sample (Study 3), individuals induced to believe that they were impulsive and then given the specific silver lining theory that impulsivity was related to creativity showed greater effort based creativity than those for whom the silver lining theory was refuted. In Study 4, individuals made to believe that they were impulsive and given the silver lining theory performed more creatively than those who received no information about a silver lining theory, indicating that the silver lining theory increased performance relative to baseline. Silver lining lay theories may allow people to compensate for a negative attribute by promoting ef fortful behavior in the domain of a positive attribute believed to be linked to that negative attribute.

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Lay Theories of Obesity Predict Actual Body Mass

Cited by 76 publications

References 31 publications

Beliefs about obesity and their relationship with dietary restraint and body image perception

Beliefs about obesity and their relationship with dietary restraint and body image perception

Understanding healthy food environments in public health practice

Holding a silver lining theory: When negative attributes heighten performance

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