Emotieregulatie en de invloed op het eetgedrag

Abstract

The present research investigated the effect of emotion regulation on eating behavior. It was hypothesized that in a research population with a normal weight (a) not emotions but emotion regulation had an affect on eating, (b) suppression as emotion regulation led to more eating than reappraisal and that (c) reappraisal as emotion regulation did not affect eating. These hypotheses were addressed by using controlled laboratory settings with experimental designs allowing for an investigation of the causal role of emotion regulation in eating behavior. Emotions were evoked by telling participants they had to give a presentation. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions: (1) given the instruction to reappraise their emotions, (2) to suppress their emotions or (3) no instructions were given on how to manifest their emotions. After the presentation participants had to participate in a taste test. The results showed that only the participants in the control group (no instructions) ate significantly more than participants in the suppression group and the reappraisal group. No valid conclusions can be drawn about the results because the emotion induction was not satisfactory. The evoked emotions disappeared after participants had performed the presentation. Future studies are necessary to investigate the effect of different emotion regulation strategies on eating behavior.