다른 사람의 체형이 음식을 먹는 양에 영향을 미치는지, 그리고 그에 더해서 자신의 주의를 체형에 두는지 혹은 그 이외의 것에 두는지에 따라서도 음식을 먹는 양이 영향을 받는지 알아보았다. 이를 위해 남녀 대학생 193명을 대상으로 이들에게 말랐거나 뚱뚱하거나 혹은 보통의 체형을 가진 사람의 사진을 보여주고, 자신의 체형에 대해서 주의를 기울이거나 혹은 체형과 관련없는 성격 측면에 대해서 주의를 기울이도록 하였다. 다음으로 새로 출시된다고 알려준 스낵의 맛평가를 하도록 하여 섭식량을 측정하였다. 그 결과를 보면, 여성들의 경우에 마른 체형을 지닌 사람의 사진을 볼 때에, 뚱뚱한 사람을 볼 때보다 스낵을 덜 먹었다. 또한 체형에 대한 사적 자기주의의 효과는 비교대상에 따라서 달라졌다. 구체적으로 뚱뚱한 사람의 사진을 볼 때에는 자기주의에 상관없이 비교적 먹는 양이 많았으며, 마른 사람의 사진을 볼 때에는 자기주의에 상관없이 비교적 먹는 양이 적었다. 그런데 보통 체형의 사람을 볼 때에는 체형에 대해서 주의를 기울이면 그렇지 않을 때보다 먹는 양이 적었다. 남성들의 경우에는 비교대상에 의해서 먹는 양이 영향을 받았다. 그런데 여성들과 달리 뚱뚱한 사람을 볼 때에 마른 사람을 볼 때보다 먹는 양이 더 적었다. 끝으로 본 연구에서 얻은 결과들과 시사점을 선행연구들과 관련지어서 논의하였다.
This study was to investigate whether eating behavior was influenced by other's shape or thinness and attention focused on shape. For this purpose, photographs of under-weight, normal or over-weight models were presented to 193 college students and they were also manipulated to focus their attention on shape or personality dimension. Then participants were requested to evaluate the taste of new snack, and the amount of the snacks which they had eaten was used as the dependent variable. The main results were as follows. First, females ate much more amount of snacks when they were exposed to photographs of under-weight or normal models than over-weight model. Furthermore, the effect of shape of model was also moderated by the role of private self-focused attention. Specifically, at the conditions of under-weight and over-weight model, the amount was not affected by private self-focused attention. However, when females were exposed to normal weight model, attention focused on shape made them eat less. Among males, only the effect of shape of model influenced how much they ate. Interestingly, the result pattern was somewhat different from those of females which showed that males ate less when they exposed to over-weight model then under-weight or normal models. Finally, the limitations of this study and the implications for future studies were discussed.
이민규 ; 한덕웅 ; 배하영, (2005) 정서, 섭식억제, 체형 및 체중 관련 사적자기주의에 따른 섭식동기 및 섭식행동, 한국심리학회지: 건강
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