Overindulging in food: How overeating may increase women’s preference for stereotyped activities and objects

Abstract

Two experiments were designed to examine how transgressing the gender-based norm of restricting food intake (i.e., the “eating lightly” social norm), provoked in women the desire to engage in stereotypically feminine activities, such as watching a romance movie or wearing feminine items in order to balance the negative consequences of overindulging in food. Study 1 (N = 110) showed that after recalling an overeating episode (vs. remembering a situation in which they were able to control their food ingestion), women (but not men) experienced negative emotions that increased their desire to watch romance movies. Study 2 (N = 123) showed that an imagined overeating experience was perceived by women as an unfeminine behavior. This perception in turn induced negative emotions that increased the likelihood of preferring feminine objects. Finally, for these women, the choice of feminine objects improved their self-ascribed femininity. Our results contribute to the understanding of overeating as an identity-relevant behavior for women—able to generate psychological consequences beyond the food domain.

Keywords

• gender stereotypes
• eating behavior
• overeating
• impression management
• social norms