The current research extended the implicit theory approach to a weight management context and merged it with value expectancy theory. Three studies investigated the hypothesis that individuals are especially unlikely to self-regulate effectively after dieting setbacks when they believe body weight to be fixed (entity theory) rather than malleable (incremental theory). Study 1 examined avoidant coping after a hypothetical dieting setback. Study 2 examined the implicit theory—avoidant coping relation after naturally occurring challenges to participants’ weight-loss goals. Across both studies, entity theorists, relative to incremental theorists, reported more avoidant coping after setbacks. In Study 2, avoidant coping, in turn, predicted difficulty achieving weight-loss success. Study 3 manipulated implicit theories of weight to test the causal effects of implicit theories on effortful regulation. Entity theorists, relative to incremental theorists, reported less persistence following setbacks. Across the three studies, expectations about the potential for future dieting success mediated the link between implicit theory and self-regulation.
Anderson, J., & Gerbing, D. ( 1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 411-423.
2.
Aspinwall, L., & Taylor, S. ( 1992). Modeling cognitive adaptation: A longitudinal investigation of the impact of individual differences and coping on college adjustment and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 63, 989-1003.
3.
Bandura, A. ( 1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.
4.
Bandura, A. ( 1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
5.
Baron, R.M., & Kenny, D.A. ( 1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.
6.
Baumeister, R.F., Heatherton, T.F., & Tice, D.M. ( 1994). Losing control: How and why people fail at self-regulation . San Diego, CA: Academic Press .
7.
Becker, M.H. ( 1974). The health belief model and personal health behavior . Health Education Monographs, 2, 324-347.
8.
Beer, J.S. ( 2002). Implicit self-theories of shyness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1009-1024.
9.
Benyamini, Y., & Raz, O. ( 2007). I can tell you if I’ll really lose all that weight: Dispositional and situated optimism as predictors of weight loss following a group intervention. Journal of Applied Social Psychology , 37, 844-861.
10.
Blackwell, L., Trzesniewski, K., & Dweck, C.S. ( 2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention . Child Development, 78, 246-263.
11.
Brissette, I., Scheier, M., & Carver, C. ( 2002). The role of optimism in social network development, coping, and psychological adjustment during a life transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 102-111.
12.
Brownell, K.D., & Horgen, K.B. ( 2004). Food fight: The inside story of the food industry. America’s obesity crisis and what we can do about it. New York: McGraw-Hill.
13.
Byers, T. ( 2006). Overweight and mortality among baby boomers- Now we’re getting personal. New England Journal of Medicine, 355, 758-760.
14.
Carver, C.S., & Scheier, M.F. ( 1998). On the self-regulation of behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
15.
Chenoweth, D., & Leutzinger, J. (2006). The economic cost of physical inactivity and excess weight inAmerican adults. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 3, 148-163.
16.
Compas, B.E., Connor-Smith, J.K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A.H., & Wadsworth, M.E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Problems, progress, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 87-127.
17.
Crandall, C.S., & Martinez, R. ( 1996). Culture, ideology, and anti-fat attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1165-1176.
18.
Diener, C.I., & Dweck, C.S. ( 1978). An analysis of learned helplessness: Continuous changes in performance, strategy, and achievement cognitions following failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 451-462.
19.
Dweck, C.S. ( 2000). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.
20.
Dweck, C.S., & Leggett, E.L. ( 1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality . Psychological Review, 25, 109-116.
21.
Elfhag, K., & Rössner, S. (2005). Who succeeds in maintaining weight loss? A conceptual review of factors associated with weight loss maintenance and weight regain. Obesity Reviews, 6, 67-85.
22.
Elliott, E.S., & Dweck, C.S. ( 1988). Goals: An approach to motivation and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 5-12.
23.
Finkel, E.J., Burnette, J.L., & Scissors, L. ( 2008). Vengefully ever after: Destiny beliefs, attachment anxiety, and forgiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 92, 871-886.
24.
Fiske, S.T., Cuddy, A.J.C., Glick, P., & Xu, J. ( 2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content: Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 878-902.
25.
Folkman, S., Lazarus, R.S., Gruen, R.J., & DeLongis, A. ( 1986). Appraisal, coping, health status, and psychological symptoms . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 571-579.
26.
Franiuk, R., Pomerantz, E.M., & Cohen D. ( 2004). The causal role of theories of relationships: Consequences for satisfaction and cognitive strategies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1494-1507.
27.
Grilo, C.M., & Pogue-Geile, M.E. (1991). The nature of environmental influences on weight and obesity: A behavior genetic analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 520-537.
28.
Herbert, A., Gerry, M.P., McQueen, M.B., Heid, I.M., Pfeufer, A., Illig, T., et al. (2006). A common genetic variant is associated with adult childhood obesity. Science, 312, 279-283.
29.
Hong, Y., Chiu, C., Dweck, C.S., Lin, D., & Wan, W. ( 1999). Implicit theories, attributions, and coping: A meaning system approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 77, 588-599.
30.
Hu, L., & Bentler, P.M. ( 1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1-55.
31.
Kasimatis, M., Miller, M., & Marcussen, L. ( 1996). The effects of implicit theories on exercise motivation . Journal of Research in Personality, 30, 510-516.
32.
Kenny, D.A., Kashy, D.A., & Bolger, N. ( 1998). Data analysis in social psychology. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (4th ed., pp. 233-265). New York: Oxford University Press.
33.
Knee, C.R. ( 1998). Implicit theories of relationships: Assessment and prediction of romantic relationship initiation, coping, and longevity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 360-370.
34.
Knee, C.R., & Canevello, A. ( 2006). Implicit theories of relationships and coping in romantic relationships. In K. D. Vohs & E. J. Finkel (Eds.), Self and relationships: Connecting intrapersonal and interpersonal processes (pp. 160-176). New York: Guilford.
35.
Kray, L.J., & Haselhuhn, M. ( 2007). Implicit negotiation beliefs and performance: Longitudinal and experimental evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 49-64.
36.
Krechowec, S.O., Vickers, M., Gertler, A., & Breier, B.H. ( 2008). Prenatal influences on leptin sensitivity and susceptibility to diet-induced obesity. Journal of Endocrinology, 189, 355-363.
37.
Linde, J.A., Rothman, A.J., Baldwin, A.S., & Jeffery, R.W. ( 2006). The impact of self-efficacy on behavior change and weight change among overweight participants in a weight loss trial. Health Psychology, 25, 282-291.
38.
MacKinnon, D.P., & Fairchild, A.J. (2009). Current directions in mediation analysis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 16-20.
39.
Mangels, J.A., Butterfield, B., Lamb, J., Good, C.D., & Dweck, C.S. ( 2006). Why do beliefs about intelligence influence learning success? A social-cognitive-neuroscience model. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 1, 75-86.
40.
Mann, T.A., Tomiyama, J., Westling, E., Lew, A., Samuels, B., & Chatman, J. ( 2007). Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. American Psychologist, 62, 220-233.
41.
Martinez, J. ( 2000). Body weight regulation: Causes of obesity. Proceedings of Nutrition Society, 59, 337-345.
42.
Millsap, R.E. ( 2002). Structural equation modeling: A user’s guide. In F. Drasgow & N. Schmitt (Eds.), Measuring and analyzing behavior in organizations: Advances in measurement and data analysis (pp. 257-301). San Francisco : Jossey-Bass.
43.
Molden, D.C., & Dweck, C.S. ( 2006). Finding "meaning" in psychology: A lay theories approach to self-regulation, social perception, and social development. American Psychologist, 61, 192-203.
44.
Musch, J., & Reips, U.D. ( 2000). A brief history of Web experiments. In M. H. Birnbaum (Ed.), Psychology experiments on the Internet (pp. 61-88). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
45.
Muthén, L.K., & Muthén, B.O. (2006). Mplus. Los Angeles: Author.
46.
Myslobodsky, M. ( 2003). Gourmand savants and environmental determinants of obesity . Obesity Reviews, 4, 121-128.
47.
Niiya, Y., Crocker, J., & Bartmess, E.N. (2004). From vulnerability to resilience: Learning orientations buffer contingent self-esteem from failure. Psychological Science, 15, 801-805.
48.
Ommundsen, Y. ( 2003). Implicit theories of ability and self-regulation strategies in physical education classes. Educational Psychology, 23, 141-157.
49.
Paulhus, D.L. ( 1984). Two-component models of socially desirable responding . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 598-609.
50.
Perry, G.S., Myers, T.E., Mokdad, A.H., Serdula, M.K., & Williamson, D.F. (1995). The validity of past body-weights by U.S. adults. Epidemiology, 6, 61-66.
51.
Pingitore, R., Dugoni, B., Tindale, S., & Spring, B. ( 1994) Bias against overweight job applicants in a simulated employment interview. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 909-917.
52.
Polivy, J., & Herman, C.P. ( 2002). If at first you don’t succeed: False hopes of self-change . American Psychologist, 57, 677-689.
53.
Ross, M. ( 1989). Relation of implicit theories to the construct of personal histories. Psychological Review, 96, 341-357.
54.
Scheier, M.F., & Carver, C.S. ( 1985). Optimism, coping, and health assessment and generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219-247.
55.
Schwarzer, R., & Renner, B. ( 2000). Social-cognitive predictors of health behavior: Action self-efficacy and coping self-efficacy. Health Psychology , 19, 487-495.
56.
Stotland, S.C., Larocque, M., & Kronick, I. ( 2006). Self-regulation of weight: Basic processes and treatment implications. In A. T. Prescott (Ed.), The concept of self in psychology. (pp. 29-45). Hauppauge, NY : Nova Science.
57.
Stotland, S., & Zuroff, D.C. ( 1990). A new measure of weight locus of control: The Dieting Beliefs Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 54, 191-203.
58.
Stroebe, W. ( 2008). Dieting, overweight, and obesity: Self-regulation in a food-rich environment. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
59.
Tangney, J.P., Baumeister, R.F., & Boone, A.L. ( 2004). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. Journal of Personality , 72, 271-324.
60.
Wallston, K.A., & Wallston, B.S. (1978). Development of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC) scales. Health Education Monographs , 6, 160-170.
61.
Warziski, M.T., Sereika, S.M., Styn, M.A., Music, E., & Burke, L.E. ( 2008). Changes in self-efficacy and dietary adherence: The impact on weight loss in the PREFER study. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 31, 81-92.
62.
Williams, L.J., & O’Boyle, E.H. (2008). Measurement models for linked latent variables with indicators: A review of human resource management research using parcels. Human Resource Management Review, 18, 233-242.
63.
Yach, D., Stuckler, D., & Brownell, K.D. (2006). Epidemiologic and economic consequences of the global epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Nature Medicine, 12, 62-66.
