Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1992, Vol.62, No. 5,801-803 Copyright 1992 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. OO22-3514/92/S3.0O Effects of Distress on Eating: The Importance of Ego-Involvement Todd E Heatherton Harvard University C. Peter Herman and Janet Polivy University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Schotte (1992) argued that ego threat is not a necessary precondition for the disinhibition of eating in dieters. This article agrees that there are indeed other triggers for disinhibition, as has long been widely acknowledged, but also argues that when distress does act as a trigger for disinhibition, it does so by threatening the dieter's self-image. In a recent article (Heatherton, Herman, & Polivy, 1991), we proposed and demonstrated that physical fear differs from more general dysphoria or distress in its effects on eating. Schotte (1992), however, argued that we have exaggerated the role of ego-involvement in distress-induced eating by insisting that ego-involvement is a precondition for such overeating. Schotte also argued that we have overlooked the role of factors other than distress as triggers of disinhibited eating. We wel- come the opportunity to clarify our position on these issues. Our published (Heatherton et al., 1991) and unpublished (Herman, Polivy, & Heatherton, 1991) articles have suggested that distress disinhibits eating in dieters by inducing an "escape from self." This idea, taken from Baumeister (1989,1990) and Heatherton and Baumeister (1991), hinges on the proposition that threats to their self-image motivate people to escape from self-awareness, which is especially aversive when they en- counter negative information about the self. To escape from this state, dieters (or binge eaters) tend to avoid broadly mean- ingful thought and instead narrow their attention to the imme- diate stimulus situation. This cognitive shift redirects attention away from unpleasant thoughts about the self and toward food cues in the environment; it also has the effect of disengaging restraints and inhibitions that are normally supported by meaningful thought (see also Baumeister, 1991). The result, for the dieter, is disinhibited eating. Not all types of distress threaten the self-image. Physical threats have little implication for one's self-worth; accordingly, we do not expect that they will lead to escape attempts and consequent disinhibition of eating. We are in agreement with Schotte (1992) and with the experimental literature: Physical threats do not disinhibit dieters' eating. Schotte (1992) took issue with our contention that ego-in- volvement or a threat to one's self-image is a necessary compo- nent of those instances of distress that do promote disinhibi- tion. He cited a number of studies involving subjects who were exposed to horror films or to false feedback regarding their arousal state. 1 These studies clearly obtained disinhibited eat- Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Todd F. Heatherton, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138. Electronic mail may be sent to th@isr.harvard.edu. ing in dieters. Schotte maintained that they involve distress but do not involve ego threats. In the case of horror films, it is not entirely clear that they involve distress, and in the case of false autonomic feedback, it is fairly clear that they do involve a self-image threat. Horror Films After early childhood, relatively few individuals who watch horror movies feel that their physical self is being threatened. Horror movies depend on one's capacity to empathize with on-screen characters and to personalize the threat made by the various monsters, villains, and demons (Grixti, 1989; Tudor, 1989); these reactions, however, should not be confused with the actual experience of physical fear. The most important point to remember is that people seek out and enjoy horror films (King, 1981), whereas they by no means seek out or enjoy equivalent experiences (encounters with powerful, malicious creatures) in real life. Indeed, one of the principal motives for watching horror films is escape. People experience a wide range of emotions (positive and negative) when watching horror movies, but as long as the movie is compelling, what they experi- ence most of all is an escape from self-awareness; they "lose themselves" in the movie. Their attention is focused on the "horrible" events in the film, away from the self, and inciden- tally away from whatever restraints might normally prevent them from consuming the food (notably popcorn) provided for them. Disinhibition of eating is especially likely when palatable food is available in the absence of normal dietary precautions. Schotte (1992) argued that horror films affect eating because of their distressing effects rather than because of the attentional processes that we have just described. To the extent that they do involve distress, it seems likely that this distress is in fact ego-involving, as is evidenced by Schotte's own data (Schotte, Cools, & McNally, 1990) in which horror films led to increases not only in anxiety but also in depression, which we ordinarily 1 Schotte (1992) stated that our review failed to cite several studies. Of the five studies that he mentioned, we did cite two of them; the third was only tangentially related, the fourth appeared after our arti- cle was in press, and the fifth has only recently been accepted for publication! Thus, the charge that we willfully failed to cite several studies seems to us unfounded. 801