Behal.
Res. & Therapy.
1975. Vol
13. pp 183-184.
CASE HISTORIES
Pergamon
Press. Prmted in Great
AND SHORTER
Bratam
COMMUNICATIONS
Two analogue attempts to harness the negative coverant effect
(Received
29 October
1974)
Homme (1965) has suggested that subjects who reinforce lowly probable coverants (covert operants) which are incompatible with certain personal problems (e.g.. obesity, smoking, depression) will consequently modify their maladaptive behavior. Thus, if one wanted to lose weight one might attempt to increase the frequency of specific thoughts, images, reflections. etc. which interfere with his overeating habits. In this instance. ‘negative’ coverants might include images of one’s body bulging out of bathing suit or thoughts about an obesity-related coronary attack. Since the operant of looking at a reflected object in a mirror is analogous to the coverant of imagining the object in one’s mind, support for the assumption of coverant incompatibility was recently displayed in a study which found almost nonoverlapping distributions’of the amount of time obese and properly proportioned individuals are willing to spend in naive self-observation (Horan. 1974). Thus, negative coverants are in fact lowly probable. Furthermore, they need not be especially horrifying. but simply indicative of the starus quo. It remained to be tested, however, whether or not this potentially powerful effect could be harnessed. That is. will the reflected image ofone’s obese body (or the analogous experience of negative coverants) produce a decrease in the amount of food typically consumed in a given situation’! STUDY
I
In the first study, a full length mirror was placed on the wall of a University departmental reading room behind a small table on which rested a coffee urn. cream, sugar. etc. The coffee apparatus-and an occasional plate of cookies-was part of the ‘natural environment’ in effect for a number of years. The mirror was placed in this setting for a period of 2 months. Occasionally. posters and signs were hung in front of the mirror. obscuring it from view. The study took place over a 2-day period with control (covered mirror) and treatment (uncovered mirror) conditions alternating each morning and afternoon. A plate of chocolate chtp cookies was positioned directly in front of the mirror. Either of two raters who had achieved practice inter-rater reliability coefficients of 9.5 per cent classified Ss entering the room as obese, overweight, properly proportioned, or underweight and recorded their eating behavior. (Since out of an N of 30 cookie-eaters very few were found in the extreme categories, the classification scheme was later collapsed into a dichotomy, 13 overweight and 17 properly proportioned). As with Schachter’s research (1967), it was expected that the properly proportioned individuals would remain unaffected by the experimental conditions. On the other hand, if the image of one’s obese body is truly incompatible with the eating response, then overweight individuals should eat considerably less when exposed to the mirror image of themselves. Although, as predicted, the number of properly proportioned Ss eating cookies-as well as the amount eaten -did not differ under the experimental conditions. the same finding unfortunately held true with the overweight Ss. The reflected image of their bodies had no effect on their eating behavior. In all fairness to the hypotheses. it should be noted that very few truly obese Ss happened to enter the reading room during the experimental period; most classified as overweight were simply ‘chubby.’ Failure to reject the null, then, might have been due in part to a lack of real differences between the two groups on the weight factor. More important, however. was the clinical observation that the overweight Ss avoided lookirrg ar the mirror. Their eyes would fixate on the coffee urn or the cookie plate itself; often. they would never seem to notice that the mirror was there. Thus. it was concluded that the potentially powerful treatment never really had a chance to take place. Further study was needed. STUD)
II
The second study was disguised as a product evaluation survey during which passers-by in the lobby of a student union building were asked to rate a “new brand of peanuts” on a number of dimensions (e.g., oiliness, saltiness, etc.) Obesity was defined as ‘waistline > chestline.’ Because the Ss were invited, adequate discrimination between the obese and properly proportioned Ss could be ensured. Although many people participated, only Ss who were alone and on whom two independent raters agreed were included. A total of 80 Ss (with equal numbers of obese and properly proportioned males and females in experimental and control conditions) met these criteria Five obese and five properly proportioned individuals offered reasons such as “I‘m in a hurry” for declining the invitation to participate. As with Study I, Study II was conducted over a ?-day period with control (draped mirror) and experimental (undraped mirror) conditions alternating each morning and afternoon. This time, however. the experimental treatment was made as reactive as possible. Full length mirrors were placed both on top of and behind a table. The only distracting feature of the display were the peanuts themselves, and they were contained in a small (S-in. dia.) foil dish placed on top of the horizontal mirror. Thus, the possibility of eating the peanuts and not noticing the reflected body image was felt to be quite remote. After tasting and rating a single peanut. the Ss were thanked and then told to help themselves to as many more peanuts as they liked. Since the number of peanuts in the dish was held constant (N = 25) an accurate index of each Ss eating behavior could be had by simply notmg the number of peanuts remaining. 183
184
CASE HISTORIES
AND SHORTER COMMUNICATIONS
Agatn, it was expected that fewer numbers ofpeanutswould be consumed by the obese Ss (and!or that fewer obese 5s would eat more than the one sample peanut) under the mirror condition, while the eating behavior of the properly proportioned individuals would remain unaffected. But again. no significant differences were found. In fact. the average numbers of peanuts consumed by the obese and properly proportioned Ss in each experimental condition were identical! The most important clinical observation of the first study held true m the second. That is. in spite of experimenter attempts to make escape from treatment impossible. the overweight 5s found ways to avoid looking in the mirror. Some focused only on the experimenters: others turned themselves completely around. One S walked 50 ft away from the display to fill out the rating form! Again. the potentially powerful effect was not harnessed. DISCUSSION Both of these studies are in accord with the previous finding that obese individuals are relatively unwilling to tolerate a reflected image of their bodies (Horan. 1974); both thus support the assumption that negative coverants are in fact lowly probable. The ‘incompatibility’ phenomenon, however, was not demonstrated. probably because of the obese Ss resistance to the experimental treatment. This avoidance behavior may account for the variable responsiveness of subjects in applied coverant control research. Horan and Johnson (1971). for example. found that while the use of both positive and negative coverants produced a significant overall weight loss of 5.66lb. individual subject losses ranged from +8.50 to - 19.25 lb and the system itself tended to break down (be avoided) as the weeks of treatment went on. Subsequent research (Horan et al.. 1974) found that group counseling coverant-control programs employing only positive coverants were nearly 100 per cent effective in producing losses in excess of I lb per week. whereas those programs using only negative coverants were conspicuously unsuccessful. Apparently then. although the theoretical potential of the negative coverant effect is quite intriguing. its practical utility in either self- or experimenter-managed paradigms remains yet to be displayed. 323 Social Science Buildiny, The Pentoylvania State University. L’nirersiry Park. Pemsyltiania 1680-7. I .s. 1.
JOHN J. HORAN* RASUALL D. SMYERS DENNIS L. D~RFMAN WILLIAM W. JI-SKINS REFERENCES
L. E. (1965) Perspectives in psychology: XXIV. Control of coverants the operants of the mind. Psychol. Rec. 15, 501-5 1 I. HORAN J. J. (1974) Negative coverant probability: An analogue study. Behav. Res. & Therapy. 12, 265-266. HORAN J. J. and JOHN~QN R. C. (1971) Coverant conditioning through a self-management application of the Premack principle: Its effect on weight reduction. Eehac. Ther. & e.up. Psychiat. 2, 243-249. HORAN J. J., BAKER S. B., HOFFMAN A. M. and SH~TE R. E. (1974) Weight loss through variations in the coverant control paradigm. J. cor7sult. clir7. PsychoI. (in press). SCHACHTER S. (1967) Cognitive effects on bodily functioning: Studies of obesity and eating. In Nrurophysiolog) and .!hotior7 (Ed. GLASS D. C.). pp. 117-144. Rockefeller University Press. New York. HOMME
* Author
to whom requests
for reprints
should
be sent
Res. & Therapy.
1975. Vol
13. pp 183-184.
CASE HISTORIES
Pergamon
Press. Prmted in Great
AND SHORTER
Bratam
COMMUNICATIONS
Two analogue attempts to harness the negative coverant effect
(Received
29 October
1974)
Homme (1965) has suggested that subjects who reinforce lowly probable coverants (covert operants) which are incompatible with certain personal problems (e.g.. obesity, smoking, depression) will consequently modify their maladaptive behavior. Thus, if one wanted to lose weight one might attempt to increase the frequency of specific thoughts, images, reflections. etc. which interfere with his overeating habits. In this instance. ‘negative’ coverants might include images of one’s body bulging out of bathing suit or thoughts about an obesity-related coronary attack. Since the operant of looking at a reflected object in a mirror is analogous to the coverant of imagining the object in one’s mind, support for the assumption of coverant incompatibility was recently displayed in a study which found almost nonoverlapping distributions’of the amount of time obese and properly proportioned individuals are willing to spend in naive self-observation (Horan. 1974). Thus, negative coverants are in fact lowly probable. Furthermore, they need not be especially horrifying. but simply indicative of the starus quo. It remained to be tested, however, whether or not this potentially powerful effect could be harnessed. That is. will the reflected image ofone’s obese body (or the analogous experience of negative coverants) produce a decrease in the amount of food typically consumed in a given situation’! STUDY
I
In the first study, a full length mirror was placed on the wall of a University departmental reading room behind a small table on which rested a coffee urn. cream, sugar. etc. The coffee apparatus-and an occasional plate of cookies-was part of the ‘natural environment’ in effect for a number of years. The mirror was placed in this setting for a period of 2 months. Occasionally. posters and signs were hung in front of the mirror. obscuring it from view. The study took place over a 2-day period with control (covered mirror) and treatment (uncovered mirror) conditions alternating each morning and afternoon. A plate of chocolate chtp cookies was positioned directly in front of the mirror. Either of two raters who had achieved practice inter-rater reliability coefficients of 9.5 per cent classified Ss entering the room as obese, overweight, properly proportioned, or underweight and recorded their eating behavior. (Since out of an N of 30 cookie-eaters very few were found in the extreme categories, the classification scheme was later collapsed into a dichotomy, 13 overweight and 17 properly proportioned). As with Schachter’s research (1967), it was expected that the properly proportioned individuals would remain unaffected by the experimental conditions. On the other hand, if the image of one’s obese body is truly incompatible with the eating response, then overweight individuals should eat considerably less when exposed to the mirror image of themselves. Although, as predicted, the number of properly proportioned Ss eating cookies-as well as the amount eaten -did not differ under the experimental conditions. the same finding unfortunately held true with the overweight Ss. The reflected image of their bodies had no effect on their eating behavior. In all fairness to the hypotheses. it should be noted that very few truly obese Ss happened to enter the reading room during the experimental period; most classified as overweight were simply ‘chubby.’ Failure to reject the null, then, might have been due in part to a lack of real differences between the two groups on the weight factor. More important, however. was the clinical observation that the overweight Ss avoided lookirrg ar the mirror. Their eyes would fixate on the coffee urn or the cookie plate itself; often. they would never seem to notice that the mirror was there. Thus. it was concluded that the potentially powerful treatment never really had a chance to take place. Further study was needed. STUD)
II
The second study was disguised as a product evaluation survey during which passers-by in the lobby of a student union building were asked to rate a “new brand of peanuts” on a number of dimensions (e.g., oiliness, saltiness, etc.) Obesity was defined as ‘waistline > chestline.’ Because the Ss were invited, adequate discrimination between the obese and properly proportioned Ss could be ensured. Although many people participated, only Ss who were alone and on whom two independent raters agreed were included. A total of 80 Ss (with equal numbers of obese and properly proportioned males and females in experimental and control conditions) met these criteria Five obese and five properly proportioned individuals offered reasons such as “I‘m in a hurry” for declining the invitation to participate. As with Study I, Study II was conducted over a ?-day period with control (draped mirror) and experimental (undraped mirror) conditions alternating each morning and afternoon. This time, however. the experimental treatment was made as reactive as possible. Full length mirrors were placed both on top of and behind a table. The only distracting feature of the display were the peanuts themselves, and they were contained in a small (S-in. dia.) foil dish placed on top of the horizontal mirror. Thus, the possibility of eating the peanuts and not noticing the reflected body image was felt to be quite remote. After tasting and rating a single peanut. the Ss were thanked and then told to help themselves to as many more peanuts as they liked. Since the number of peanuts in the dish was held constant (N = 25) an accurate index of each Ss eating behavior could be had by simply notmg the number of peanuts remaining. 183
184
CASE HISTORIES
AND SHORTER COMMUNICATIONS
Agatn, it was expected that fewer numbers ofpeanutswould be consumed by the obese Ss (and!or that fewer obese 5s would eat more than the one sample peanut) under the mirror condition, while the eating behavior of the properly proportioned individuals would remain unaffected. But again. no significant differences were found. In fact. the average numbers of peanuts consumed by the obese and properly proportioned Ss in each experimental condition were identical! The most important clinical observation of the first study held true m the second. That is. in spite of experimenter attempts to make escape from treatment impossible. the overweight 5s found ways to avoid looking in the mirror. Some focused only on the experimenters: others turned themselves completely around. One S walked 50 ft away from the display to fill out the rating form! Again. the potentially powerful effect was not harnessed. DISCUSSION Both of these studies are in accord with the previous finding that obese individuals are relatively unwilling to tolerate a reflected image of their bodies (Horan. 1974); both thus support the assumption that negative coverants are in fact lowly probable. The ‘incompatibility’ phenomenon, however, was not demonstrated. probably because of the obese Ss resistance to the experimental treatment. This avoidance behavior may account for the variable responsiveness of subjects in applied coverant control research. Horan and Johnson (1971). for example. found that while the use of both positive and negative coverants produced a significant overall weight loss of 5.66lb. individual subject losses ranged from +8.50 to - 19.25 lb and the system itself tended to break down (be avoided) as the weeks of treatment went on. Subsequent research (Horan et al.. 1974) found that group counseling coverant-control programs employing only positive coverants were nearly 100 per cent effective in producing losses in excess of I lb per week. whereas those programs using only negative coverants were conspicuously unsuccessful. Apparently then. although the theoretical potential of the negative coverant effect is quite intriguing. its practical utility in either self- or experimenter-managed paradigms remains yet to be displayed. 323 Social Science Buildiny, The Pentoylvania State University. L’nirersiry Park. Pemsyltiania 1680-7. I .s. 1.
JOHN J. HORAN* RASUALL D. SMYERS DENNIS L. D~RFMAN WILLIAM W. JI-SKINS REFERENCES
L. E. (1965) Perspectives in psychology: XXIV. Control of coverants the operants of the mind. Psychol. Rec. 15, 501-5 1 I. HORAN J. J. (1974) Negative coverant probability: An analogue study. Behav. Res. & Therapy. 12, 265-266. HORAN J. J. and JOHN~QN R. C. (1971) Coverant conditioning through a self-management application of the Premack principle: Its effect on weight reduction. Eehac. Ther. & e.up. Psychiat. 2, 243-249. HORAN J. J., BAKER S. B., HOFFMAN A. M. and SH~TE R. E. (1974) Weight loss through variations in the coverant control paradigm. J. cor7sult. clir7. PsychoI. (in press). SCHACHTER S. (1967) Cognitive effects on bodily functioning: Studies of obesity and eating. In Nrurophysiolog) and .!hotior7 (Ed. GLASS D. C.). pp. 117-144. Rockefeller University Press. New York. HOMME
* Author
to whom requests
for reprints
should
be sent
