EMOTIONAL DISTRESS AND DISINHIBITED EATING - THE ROLE OF SELF

Dieters and nondieters were exposed to self-referent or non-self-refer ent mood induction procedures, and food intake was subsequently record ed. In Study I, both task failure and musical mood induction led to si gnificantly increased eating among dieters. In Study 2, dieters and no ndieters were exposed to sad or neutral music and half of the subjects were told that music might make them feel momentarily sad. The additi on of an attributional label to the mood induction procedure eliminate d the disinhibited eating that was observed in the unlabeled condition (for dieters). Study 3 demonstrated that only self-relevant negative mood disinhibits dieters. It is concluded that only those mood states that implicate the self promote self-regulatory failure. These results are discussed within the escape from self-awareness hypothesis of bin ge eating behavior.