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Expectation, fantasy, and weight loss: Is the impact of positive thinking always positive?
Abstract
We investigated the impact of expectation and fantasy on the weight losses of 25 obese women participating in a behavioral weight reduction program. Both expectations of reaching one's goal weight and spontaneous weight-related fantasies were measured at pretreatment before subjects began 1 year of weekly group-treatment. Consistent with our hypothesis that expectation and fantasy are different in quality, these variables predicted weight change in opposite directions. Optimistic expectations but negative fantasies favored weight loss. Subjects who displayed pessimistic expectations combined with positive fantasies had the poorest treatment outcome. Finally, expectation but not fantasy predicted program attendance. The effects of fantasy are discussed with regard to their potential impact on weight reduction therapy and the need for further studies of dieters' spontaneous thoughts and images.
... For instance, a person wishing to lose weight might consider the benefits of achieving that goal, followed by the obstacles posed by their current situation (e.g., sedentary lifestyle). The use of mental contrasting would either boost or attenuate motivation depending on how they viewed their chances of success (Oettingen & Wadden, 1991). ...
... During the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals might acquire new, crisis-specific goals (e.g., coping with social isolation; Bland et al., 2020) while continuing to pursue other, unrelated goals that remain valid incentives for behavior (e.g., losing weight; Oettingen & Wadden, 1991). ...
The COVID‐19 pandemic has been an unprecedented public health emergency with wide‐ranging psychological impacts. The resulting uncertainty surrounding employment, finance, and health could impact how individuals think about and pursue their personal goals. Specifically, we anticipated that pandemic‐related goals would be perceived as less controllable, presenting a unique opportunity to test effects of controllability on self‐regulation. We elicited spontaneous self‐regulatory thought (SRT) data for personal goals related and unrelated to COVID‐19, predicting that (A) the relative prevalence of different SRT modes (e.g., dwelling, indulging, mental contrasting) would differ between COVID‐related and unrelated goals; and (B) the typical motivational benefit of mental contrasting (i.e., considering a desired outcome followed by present obstacles) would be attenuated for COVID‐related goals. As anticipated, UK‐resident adults (n = 288) judged COVID‐related goals such as keeping one's family safe to be less controllable compared to unrelated goals, and tended to engage different SRT modes (e.g., higher incidence of dwelling vs. indulging). Mental contrasting occurred equally for both goal types, but when predicting goal commitment, its typical beneficial effect was absent for COVID‐related goals. Results are consistent with the proposition that low subjective control influences both the cognitive processing of goals (i.e., promoting dwelling) and subsequent motivational outcomes. This poses a challenge to current theory, calling for greater emphasis on controllability as a contributing factor in self‐regulation and goal pursuit.
... These results suggest that mentally simulating an action is sufficient to affect actual behavior. On the other hand, research on imagining not actions but a state (Oettingen & Wadden, 1991) has shown that merely imagining a desired state (i.e., an obese person imagines "I am thin") did not lead to a desired state (being thin). The key factor was imagining not only a state, but also actions ("I am making a huge effort at the gym", "I do not eat cookies"). ...
... An explanation for this result may be found in the already mentioned work of Oettingen and Wadden (1991), where it was reported that imagining not only a state, but also actions Fig. 1 Mean participant liking of the coach by the mimicry condition. Note. ...
Individuals automatically mimic a wide range of different behaviors, and such mimicking behavior has several social benefits. One of the landmark findings in the literature is that being mimicked increases liking for the mimicker. Research in cognitive neuroscience demonstrated that mentally simulating motor actions is neurophysiologically similar to engaging in these actions. Such research would predict that merely imagining being mimicked produces the same results as actually experiencing mimicry. To test this prediction, we conducted two experiments. In Experiment 1, being mimicked increased liking for the mimicker only when mimicry was directly experienced, but not when it was merely imagined. Experiment 2 replicated this finding within a high-powered online sample: merely imagining being mimicked does not produce the same effects as being actually mimicked. Theoretical and practical implications of these experiments are discussed.
... A second set of studies offers some tentative support for the thesis that long-term maintenance may be undermined by expectations that are overly optimistic. For example, Oettingen and Wadden (1991) reported that women who initially held exceedingly optimistic fantasies about what their life would be like if they lost weight subsequently had less success in a 12-month weight treatment program. More recently, Sbrocco, Nedegaard, Stone, and Lewis (1999) found mat women enrolled in a weight control program that emphasized modest treatment goals lost less weight during treatment compared to those in a traditional behavior therapy, but that at 12 months post-treatment these women had, in fact, lost more weight than those who had participated in the traditional program. ...
Intervention strategies that can produce successful rates of long-term behavior change have proven elusive and indicate the need for new approaches to this vexing problem. However, the development of new intervention strategies is constrained by our current conceptualization of behavioral maintenance. This article reviews how the dominant models of health behavior change have operationalized the psychological processes that guide the initiation and maintenance of a new pattern of behavior. In light of this review, an alternative framework is proposed based on the premise that the decision criteria that lead people to initiate a change in their behavior are different from those that lead them to maintain that behavior. Decisions regarding behavioral initiation are predicted to depend on favorable expectations regarding future outcomes, whereas decisions regarding behavioral maintenance are predicted to depend on perceived satisfaction with received outcomes. The implications of this framework for behavioral interventions are addressed.
... Interventions aimed at encouraging positive thinking have produced a mixed bag of findings [109,110]. The vast majority are cross-sectional studies carrying no evidential weight. ...
The psychosomatic approach to medically unexplained symptoms, myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (MUS/ME/CFS) is critically reviewed using scientific criteria. Based on the 'Biopsychosocial Model', the psychosomatic theory proposes that patients' dysfunctional beliefs, deconditioning and attentional biases cause or make illness worse, disrupt therapies, and lead to preventable deaths. The evidence reviewed suggests that none of these psychosomatic hypotheses is empirically supported. The lack of robust supportive evidence together with the use of fal-lacious causal assumptions, inappropriate and harmful therapies, broken scientific principles, repeated methodological flaws and an unwillingness to share data all give the appearance of cargo cult science. The psychosomatic approach needs to be replaced by a scientific, biologically grounded approach to MUS/ME/CFS that can be expected to provide patients with appropriate care and treatments. Patients with MUS/ME/CFS and their families have not been treated with the dignity, respect and care that is their human right. Patients with MUS/ME/CFS and their families could consider a class action legal case against the injuring parties.
... Second, people believe that an attainable future is the key rather than just thinking about it. Therefore, it is different from fantasy, daydreaming, and wishful thinking, which usually involve desired outcomes without judgements of their attainability (Bar-Hillel & Budescu, 1995;Krizan & Windschitl, 2009;Oettingen & Mayer, 2002;Oettingen & Wadden, 1991). For example, we may daydream that we have powerful magic but realize that this is unrealistic. ...
Counterfactual thinking puts a negative reality and better or worse alternative outcomes in the mind simultaneously. The implicit theory of intelligence considers whether individuals believe that intelligence can be promoted by effort or not. Previous studies suggest that counterfactual thinking interacting with the implicit theory of intelligence would evoke a belief in an attainable future or a belief that a certain future could one day be reality, thereby producing positive effects. Three studies examined the hypothesis that belief in an attainable future through counterfactual thinking would predict psychological capital, which is a positive developmental state of individuals. In Study 1 ( N = 62), belief in an attainable future was operationalized by introducing the implicit theory of intelligence and counterfactual thinking. Incremental theorists had higher psychological capital when engaged in counterfactual thinking than controls. In Study 2 ( N = 71), belief in an attainable future was operationalized by introducing the likelihood of the antecedents and of the outcomes, which were conceptualized as how people believe in their counterfactual thinking. Belief in an attainable future predicted psychological capital even after controlling for the influence of future time perspective and present-fatalistic time perspective, two concepts that depict how individuals process time-related information. In Study 3 ( N = 76), we conducted an intervention study. Participants in the experimental group were directed to construct attainable counterfactual thinking for one week. The experimental group had higher psychological capital than the control group. Across three studies, the findings consistently provided primary support for the hypothesis that belief in an attainable future would predict psychological capital.
Health-related social media increasingly competes with other forms of health communication for public attention. To advance understanding of the genesis of health-related social media communicating extreme fitness standards, we investigated women's creation of fitspiration, social-media content combining fitness images with effortful messages. In a pre-registered study, we hypothesized that creating extreme fitspiration content would relate positively to fitness fantasizing and to exercise self-efficacy, fitness perfectionism, physical activity, thin- and muscular-ideal internalizations, and self-objectification. Undergraduate women (N = 277) created their own fitspiration content by selecting from fitness images and messages that varied in extremity. Fitness fantasizing related positively to creating more extreme fitspiration. When controlling statistically for all other individual-difference variables, exercise self-efficacy and perfectionistic strivings emerged as key variables associated with creating extreme fitspiration content. Results suggest that women who are confident and strive toward challenging goals may create fitspiration content that communicates extreme standards. This work has implications for understanding a potential disconnect between fitspiration creators and consumers, which may illuminate ways to promote healthy fitness communications online.
This study's purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of anticipatory coping as a possible mechanism to reduce daily self-reported physical health consequences of forecasting election-related stress. Elections are often stressful for people. However, the research on possible physical consequences of anticipated election-related stress and ways to counter its impact is limited. We used data from the 2018 U.S. Midterm Election Stress Coping and Prevention Every Day (ESCAPED) study, which provided daily diary responses from 140 participants across the U.S. and American Samoa, ages 19-86. Participants were recruited using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (mTurk) and were asked to fill out an online survey each day for 22 days before, the day of, and 7 days after the 2018 U.S. midterm election, which fell on November 6, 2018. Questions involved forecasting election-related stress, four forms of anticipatory coping, and daily self-reported physical health. Results from multilevel models suggested that on days when participants experienced an increase in their forecasting of election-related stressors and also experienced a decrease in their anticipatory coping related to problem analysis, their daily self-reported physical health decreased. These results highlight the role that future-oriented tactics could play in managing the physical consequences of election-related stress.
Was ist eigentlich Energie? Woran kann ich sie erkennen? Und was ist eigentlich der Unterschied zu anderen Konzepten wie Motivation, Spitzenleistungen, Kompetenz oder Flow? In diesem Kapitel erfährst Du, wie Du ganz einfach erkennen kannst, wann Energie in einem Team, Meeting oder Raum vorhanden ist und wann nicht. Du lernst neue Methoden wie das Energie-Thermometer kennen und erfährst, warum Energie die Voraussetzung für Erfolg ist – finanziell, akademisch und privat. Du erfährst außerdem, wann Menschen Energie haben und wann nicht. Zu guter Letzt bekommst du Antworten auf folgende Fragen: Wer hat eigentlich Energie? Ist das angeboren oder erlernbar? Dies veranschaulichen die Autoren anhand der DNA eines Energy Leaders.
Building on theory and research in financial capability, this study enhances a financial capability model by integrating psychological self-sufficiency (PSS) theory as part of the financial literacy component. Using PSS, a concept from workforce development literature, this study investigates the extent to which an empowerment-based PSS process in targeting financial goals is associated with financial literacy. Path analyses were conducted using a sample of 187 low-income individuals from a large social service agency in Chicago. Findings suggest that perceived financial barriers and financial hope—the two targets of PSS interventions—are associated with financial attitude and behavior, controlling for other demographic variables. These findings can guide policy makers and service providers to build in PSS process-based financial literacy components in vocational and adult education and training as a more human-centered approach to workforce development.
Previous studies have shown that people who have not been victimized by negative life events tend to perceive themselves as less vulnerable than others to victimization. The present 2 studies examined the conditions under which Ss' judgments of others' vulnerability would differ from judgments of their own vulnerability. In Study 1, 101 undergraduates saw vague comparison targets (either the average person or the average college student) as more vulnerable than themselves to 10 negative events. In contrast, Ss perceived a specific target (their closest friend, sibling, or same-sex parent) as equally invulnerable as themselves. In Study 2, 190 Ss who were instructed to consider a vague, abstract target (either the average college student or one of their friends) made downward comparisons, choosing a real or hypothetical other who was especially vulnerable to a particular event. Ss who were instructed to consider a specific, concrete target (their closest friend) perceived no self–other differences in risk status. It is concluded that when given the opportunity, Ss actively engage in downward comparisons, thereby seeing themselves as relatively invulnerable. Whereas vague targets facilitate downward comparisons, specific targets make such comparisons more difficult. Both cognitive and motivational mechanisms underlying such downward comparisons are discussed. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted a series of 6 studies involving 631 adults to elucidate the "illusion of control" phenomenon, defined as an expectancy of a personal success probability inappropriately higher than the objective probability would warrant. It was predicted that factors from skill situations (competition, choice, familiarity, involvement) introduced into chance situations would cause Ss to feel inappropriately confident. In Study 1 Ss cut cards against either a confident or a nervous competitor; in Study 2 lottery participants were or were not given a choice of ticket; in Study 3 lottery participants were or were not given a choice of either familiar or unfamiliar lottery tickets; in Study 4, Ss in a novel chance game either had or did not have practice and responded either by themselves or by proxy; in Study 5 lottery participants at a racetrack were asked their confidence at different times; finally, in Study 6 lottery participants either received a single 3-digit ticket or 1 digit on each of 3 days. Indicators of confidence in all 6 studies supported the prediction. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article explores the implications that dispositional optimism holds for physical well-being. Research is reviewed that links optimism to a number of different positive health-relevant outcomes, ranging from the development of physical symptoms to recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery. Additional findings are described which suggest that these beneficial effects are partly due to differences between optimists and pessimists in the strategies that they use to cope with stress. A number of other potential mediators are also discussed, including some that are physiologic in nature. The article closes with a discussion of the relationships between our own theoretical account of the effects of optimism and several other conceptual approaches.
Three investigations are reported that examined the relation between self-appraisals and appraisals of others. In Experiment 1, subjects rated a series of valenced trait adjectives according to how well the traits described the self and others. Individuals displayed a pronounced “self-other bias,” such that positive attributes were rated as more descriptive of self than of others, whereas negative attributes were rated as less descriptive of self than of others. Furthermore, in contrast to C. R. Rogers's (1951) assertion that high self-esteem is associated with a comparable regard for others, the tendency for individuals to evaluate the self in more favorable terms than they evaluated people in general was particularly pronounced among those with high self-esteem. These findings were replicated and extended in Experiment 2, where it also was found that self-evaluations were more favorable than were evaluations of a friend and that individuals with high self-esteem were most likely to appraise their friend...
The utility and validity of Bandura's self-efficacy construct was evaluated in a study involving 62 volunteer overweight women. Pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up assessments of self-efficacy and weight loss were obtained in the context of a behaviorally oriented weight-reduction program. It was predicted that (a) weight loss would be related to enhancement in personal efficacy, (b) posttreatment efficacy would be a significant and more accurate predictor of weight loss during follow-up intervals than posttreatment weight loss, and (c) self-efficacy would be related to attrition whereas weight loss would not. Results indicate a significant relationship between weight change and personal efficacy during the follow-up intervals. In accord with Bandura's theory, efficacy expectations predicted outcome during the 6-week and 6-month follow-up intervals, whereas posttreatment weight loss was unrelated to later outcome. In addition, completers had a substantially higher level of personal efficacy than dropouts over treatment and, to a lesser extent, over the follow-up period. Some procedural considerations regarding the assessment of personal efficacy are raised, and the relationship between the cognitively based constructs of goal choice and self-efficacy and task performance are discussed. Finally, given the nature and variability of weight-reduction efforts and the overall time span of the study, it is concluded that results attest to the validity and utility of the self-efficacy construct in predicting behavioral persistence and level of behavioral change.
The primary primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of a cognitive, a behavioral, and a combined cognitive-behavioral approach to weight reduction and maintenance. A nutrition-exercise group served as a minimal treatment control condition. Each of the four groups contained 15 health, obese (10% above ideal body weight) females recruited from the community. Subjects were matched and assigned to groups according to age (M = 37.87 years) and percentage overweight (M = 66%). The weight-reduction program was divided into an 8-week treatment phase, followed by a 1-year maintenance phase. At posttreatment, weight loss for the behavioral group (M = 4.74 kg) was significantly better than that of the control group (M = 2.345 kg). The combined group lost more weight (M = 4.58 kg) than the control group, a difference that was marginally significant. The cognitive group was the only condition that showed a continuing decrease in weight. However, there were no significant differences between the four groups during follow-up.
Following from Bandura's (1977a) self-efficacy theory, an Eating Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES) was developed and its psychometric properties established. Factor analysis of the 25-item scale yielded two reliable factors—one concerned with eating when experiencing negative affect (NA) and the other with eating during socially acceptable circumstances (SAC). The ESES demonstrated good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity. A clinical study using this measure found that increases in ESES scores were significantly related to weight losses among weight loss program participants. A laboratory study using a mood induction procedure found that NA subscale scores predicted food consumption irrespective of whether negative affect was induced. This finding may indicate that people have difficulty accurately discriminating the specific circumstances under which their eating difficulties occur and/or that eating difficulties tend to be global in nature. The significant correlation of the two ESES subscales (r =.39, p .001) supports these possibilities. The clinical and research utility of the ESES and the implications of the findings are discussed.