Preconscious processing of threat cues: impact on eating among women with unhealthy eating attitudes.

OBJECTIVE This study examined the role of different forms of threat cues in generating eating behavior among nonclinical women with more or less healthy eating attitudes. METHOD The participants were 60 non-eating-disordered women, divided into those with relatively high and low Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) scores. An ego (self-esteem) threat, a physical threat, or a neutral message was presented subliminally via a tachistoscope, and the amount eaten subsequently was measured. RESULTS The women with healthy eating attitudes ate slightly more after exposure to the ego threat, but not after the physical threat. The group with unhealthy eating attitudes ate more after exposure to both forms of threats, but particularly after the ego threat. CONCLUSIONS A cognitive interpretation of these findings indicates preconscious activation of elaborate threat-related schemata among women with relatively unhealthy eating attitudes, leading to subsequent "escape" behavior (eating). Further testing is needed to elaborate on this phenomenon, it psychological substrates, and its therapeutic implications.