THE PARADOXICAL EFFECT OF DIET COMMERCIALS ON REINHIBITION OF DIETARYRESTRAINT

Although many studies have explored the mechanism by which dietary res traint becomes disinhibited, few have examined how restraint is restor ed or ''reinhibited.'' Using a taste test with preload design, we show ed a sad movie clip interrupted by diet-related commercials, neutral c ommercials, or no commercials to women with high and low restraint sco res. We predicted that images of successful dieting would foster reinh ibition. Results, however, revealed the opposite: high restrained eate rs who viewed the diet-oriented commercials ate more than other subjec ts. We interpret these data as suggesting that diet-related images act as additional disinhibitors and view our results in light of research linking ego threat to dietary disinhibition (Heatherton, Herman, & Po livy, 1991).