Abstract
Overeating can refer to eating more than we had intended to eat, eating more than our eating companions eat, or eating more than norms dictate is an appropriate amount. The act of overeating, however it is defined in a particular situation, has effects on people. These effects may be cognitive (i.e., related to our thoughts), emotional, or behavioral. If we eat more than we ourselves had intended to eat, we may feel overly full and physically uncomfortable, or, possibly worse, we may feel guilty and disappointed in ourselves for not maintaining our control. Consuming more than the other people with whom we are eating can make people view us as “large eaters,” who are generally seen as lacking in self-control, unattractive, unfeminine, and more overweight than “small eaters”. In order to avoid this stereotype of what people who eat a lot are like, we are likely to avoid eating more than our fellow eaters do. Similarly, if we eat more than social norms dictate by eating a larger number of food items than norms dictate, we may be seen by others (or ourselves) as eating excessively, and thus, again, falling under the negative stereotype of the overeater. Dieters who believe that they have overeaten (and thus broken their diets) often go on to overeat even more, even if they eventually feel guilty or unhappy. More generally, people are averse to violating an eating norm, going so far as to underreport their intake if they think they have overeaten.
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Herman, C.P., Polivy, J., Pliner, P., Vartanian, L.R. (2019). What Happens When We Overeat?. In: Social Influences on Eating. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28817-4_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28817-4_10
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