Subliminal activation of abandonment- and eating-related schemata: relationship with eating disordered attitudes in a nonclinical population
✍ Scribed by Meyer, Caroline ;Waller, Glenn
- Publisher
- Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 149 KB
- Volume
- 27
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0276-3478
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Objective: Previous research has demonstrated that subliminal abandonment cues can facilitate eating behavior. It is believed that such eating is a response to the activation of specific core schemata. However, the precise nature of those schemata has not been established. This study examined whether the presentation of subliminal abandonment and food/ shape cues results in the activation of abandonment-related or food-related schemata. Method: Eighty-two women were exposed to one of three subliminal cues-an abandonment cue ("lonely"), an appetitive cue ("hungry"), and a neutral cue ("gallery"). They subsequently completed Stroop tasks to measure activation of relevant schemata. Results: Subliminal presentation of abandonment cues led to the activation of food-and shape-related schemata. In contrast, subliminal appetitive cues resulted in an activation of abandonmentrelated schemata. Conclusions: The results show preliminary support for a multilevel cognitive model, involving indirect links between subliminal cue type and the activation of eatingrelated cognitions.