The nature and persistence of the effects of posthypnotic suggestions on food preferences: The final report of an online study

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychology

Renin Öznur Akalin¹  Johanna E. Lawrence²  Werner Sommer²  Anoushiravan Zahedi³  Annika Baumann⁴ 

[1] Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany;Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany;Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany;Department of Decision Neuroscience and Nutrition, German Institute of Human Nutrition (DIfE), Nuthetal, Germany;Neuroscience Research Center, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Neuroscience Research Center, Berlin, Germany;Department of Psychology, University of Muenster (Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster), Münster, Germany;Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Berlin, Germany;University of Potsdam, Chair of Business Informatics, esp. Social Media and Society, Potsdam, Germany;

关键词: hypnosis;    online supermarket;    posthypnotic suggestions (PHSs);    food choice;    eating behavior;    food preferences;    Bayesian analysis;    Bayesian generalized linear mixed model;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1123907

 received in 2022-12-14, accepted in 2023-02-24,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The persistence of food preferences, which are crucial for diet-related decisions, is a significant obstacle to changing unhealthy eating behavior. To overcome this obstacle, the current study investigates whether posthypnotic suggestions (PHSs) can enhance food-related decisions by measuring food choices and subjective ratings. After assessing hypnotic susceptibility in Session 1, at the beginning of Session 2, a PHS was delivered aiming to increase the desirability of healthy food items (e.g., vegetables and fruit). After the termination of hypnosis, a set of two tasks was administrated twice, once when the PHS was activated and once deactivated in counterbalanced order. The task set consisted of rating 170 pictures of food items, followed by an online supermarket where participants were instructed to select enough food from the same item pool for a fictitious week of quarantine. After 1 week, Session 3 mimicked Session 2 without renewed hypnosis induction to assess the persistence of the PHS effects. The Bayesian hierarchical modeling results indicate that the PHS increased preferences and choices of healthy food items without altering the influence of preferences in choices. In contrast, for unhealthy food items, not only both preferences and choices were decreased due to the PHS, but also their relationship was modified. That is, although choices became negatively biased against unhealthy items, preferences played a more dominant role in unhealthy choices when the PHS was activated. Importantly, all effects persisted over 1 week, qualitatively and quantitatively. Our results indicate that although the PHS affected healthy choices through resolve, i.e., preferred more and chosen more, unhealthy items were probably chosen less impulsively through effortful suppression. Together, besides the translational importance of the current results for helping the obesity epidemic in modern societies, our results contribute theoretically to the understanding of hypnosis and food choices.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Zahedi, Öznur Akalin, Lawrence, Baumann and Sommer.