Social Influences on Eating by C. Peter Herman & Janet Polivy & Patricia Pliner & Lenny R. Vartanian

Author:C. Peter Herman & Janet Polivy & Patricia Pliner & Lenny R. Vartanian
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030288174
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Impression Management and General Positive Image of the Self

The threat in Gal and Wilkie’s third study produces what impression management theorists call a “predicament,” requiring remediation or correction. There, the threat was to participants’ desired masculine image, which they remediated by means of their masculine food choices. Sometimes, the predicament is broader, threatening an overall positive image and one’s general feeling of competence, and remediation may involve behaviors less closely related to the threat. At this point a study to be described in Chap. 9 becomes relevant. Pliner, Rizvi, and Remick (2009) threatened one group of female students’ feelings of competence by making them believe they had not performed well on a series of skill-related tasks, whereas others were not threatened. In a subsequent, supposedly unrelated, consumer taste study, they were asked to choose which of seven versions of lasagne they would taste and rate. The lasagnes were described in a way that made clear that they varied on a dimension of healthiness, beginning with one high in important nutrients and low in sodium, and going through to seventh, lower in nutrients and higher in sodium. The women whose general competence had been threatened chose healthier versions of the lasagne than did those whose competence had not been threatened. One can interpret these results as an attempt on the part of the women with a predicament—those whose general competence had been threatened—to remediate or correct this impression by making “good,” smart, healthy food choices.

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