Examining relationships among thin-ideal internalization, eating pathology, and motivational reactions to high- and low-calorie food

Motivational responses to food stimuli are relevant for eating disorders (EDs). Research examining reactions to food in EDs has been mixed, with some studies reporting enhanced appetitive responses, and others observing defensive responses, to food. Thin-ideal internalization, a socio-cognitive factor implicated in EDs, may relate to these mixed findings, as individuals with eating pathology may experience food as a threat to internalized ideals of thinness, despite its inherently appetitive qualities. In the present study, physiological reflexes measuring defensive (startle blink reflex) and appetitive (postauricular reflex) responding as well as self-report ratings were recorded while 88 women with and without eating pathology viewed images of high- and low-calorie food. Greater global eating pathology, but not thin-ideal internalization, was associated with negative self-report valence ratings and lower craving ratings of high-calorie food. In contrast, greater thin-ideal internalization and eating pathology both related to more positive self-report valence ratings of low-calorie food, with thin-ideal internalization accounting for some of the shared variance between low-calorie food ratings and eating pathology. Overall, thin-ideal internalization may represent a higher-order factor that may contribute to the relationship between conscious reactions to food and disordered eating.