Definition
Heatherton and Polivy (1992) initially presented the spiral model of chronic dieting and eating disorders as an explanation of the course followed by those who engage in chronic weight-loss dieting, some of whom seem to go on to develop eating disorders. The spiral model states that individuals who compare themselves to an ideal physique and feel like they do not match this ideal seem to develop body dissatisfaction, which contributes to a decision to diet to lose weight (and achieve the ideal physique). If the diet succeeds and the person loses the desired amount of weight, that is the end of the process. Unfortunately, most diets do not produce the desired weight loss, especially for those who begin with low self-esteem. Those with low self-esteem who make these comparisons of themselves with ideal others are more vulnerable to societal and peer pressures to be thinner, and are more likely to develop body dissatisfaction and begin to diet, and are more susceptible to...
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References and Further Reading
Heatherton, T. F., & Baumeister, R. F. (1991). Binge eating as an escape from self-awareness. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 86–108.
Heatherton, T. F., & Polivy, J. (1992). Chronic dieting and eating disorders; a spiral model. In J. H. Crowther, S. E. Hobfall, M. A. P. Stephens, & D. L. Tennenbaum (Eds.), The etiology of bulimia: the individual and familial context (pp. 133–155). Washington, DC: Hemisphere Publishers.
Heatherton, T., Herman, C. P., Polivy, J., King, G. A., & McGree, T. (1988). The (mis)measurement of restraint: An analysis of conceptual and psychometric issues. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 19–28.
Herman, C. P., & Polivy, J. (2011). The self-regulation of eating: Theoretical and practical problems. In K. D. Vohs & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (2nd ed., pp. 522–536). New York: Guilford.
Kelley, W. M., Wagner, D. D., & Heatherton, T. F. (2015). In search of a human self-regulation system. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 38, 389–411.
Lowe, M. R., & Levine, A. S. (2005). Eating motives and the controversy over dieting: Eating less than needed versus less than wanted. Obesity Research, 13, 797–806.
Neumark-Sztainer, D., Wall, M., Larson, N. I., Eisenberg, M. E., & Loth, K. (2011). Dieting and disordered eating behaviors from adolescence to young adulthood: Findings from a 10-Year longitudinal study. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111, 1004–1011.
Pelletier, L. G., & Dion, S. C. (2007). An examination of general and specific motivational mechanisms for the relations between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26, 303–333.
Polivy, J., Heatherton, T., & Herman, C. P. (1988). Self-esteem, restraint, and eating behavior. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 354–356.
Stice, E. (2001). Risk factors of eating pathology: Recent advances and future directions. In R. Striegel-Moore & L. Smolak (Eds.), Eating disorders: Innovative directions in research and practice (pp. 51–74). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Wagner, D. D., Boswell, B. G., Kelley, W. M., & Heatherton, T. F. (2012). Inducing negative affect increases the reward value of appetizing food in dieters. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 24, 1625–1633.
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Polivy, J., Heatherton, T. (2017). Spiral Model of Dieting and Disordered Eating. In: Wade, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Feeding and Eating Disorders. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-104-6_94
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-104-6_94
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