Wanting for chocolate: The influence of body weight and food temptations on the motivation to obtain a favourite snack

Abstract

The present study examined to what extent food temptation has an effect on the motivation to work for chocolate and whether this effect differs between normal-weight and overweight individuals. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the underlying mechanism of sensory-specific satiety may contribute to individual differences in wanting for chocolate. It was expected that normal-weight individuals were protected by a faster responding process of sensory-specific satiety, which would lead to a decrease in motivation to work for their favourite chocolate snack. Seventy-six normal-weight and thirty overweight individuals participated in a two by three experimental design with body weight (normal-weight versus overweight) and food temptation (chocolate versus cookies versus control) as independent variables. An Analysis of Variance was used to test the effects of body weight and temptation condition on the dependent variable wanting. Results showed a main effect of food temptation, although only a significant effect was found between the chocolate temptation condition and the control condition. An unexpected finding was that normal-weight participants and overweight participants did not differ in their motivation to obtain their favourite chocolate snack. There was also no interaction effect between body weight and food temptation; normal-weight participants did not show a decrease in wanting for chocolate. These results suggest that habituation might be observed instead of sensory-specific satiety. A difference in the automatic activation of long-term diet goals between normal-weight and overweight individuals is a possible explanation for not finding a significant main effect of body weight. It is suggested that a successful self-control mechanism may better explain individual differences in the motivation to eat palatable food.