Lie to me baby

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/02/MNG9GE1FLN1.DTL

The next Atkins? New diet might trade in ribs for fibs
Lying researchers devise way to turn people off ice cream
Rosie Mestel, Los Angeles Times

Tuesday, August 2, 2005


In their battle against the bulge, desperate dieters have tried drugs, surgery, exercise, counseling, creams and even electrical fat-burning belts. Now some psychologists have a new idea: Lying.

A team led by psychologist Elizabeth Loftus of UC Irvine found that it could persuade people to avoid fattening foods by implanting unpleasant childhood memories about the food -- even though the event never happened.

In a paper published in today's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team said it successfully turned people off strawberry ice cream, and in earlier studies it has done the same with pickles and hard-boiled eggs -- in each case, by manipulating the subjects to believe the foods made them sick when they were children.

The scientists say they have also successfully implanted positive opinions about asparagus by convincing subjects that they once loved the vegetable.

The method, if perfected, could induce people to eat less of what they shouldn't and more of what they should, Loftus said. Good memories about fruits and vegetables could be implanted, and bad ones on low-nutrient, high- calorie foods.

In the strawberry ice cream experiment, Loftus and her team asked 131 students to fill out forms about their food experiences and preferences, including questions about their experiences with strawberry ice cream. The subjects were then given a computer analysis of their responses that was supposed to indicate their true likes and dislikes.

A group of 47 students, however, were also inaccurately told that the analysis made it clear they had gotten sick from eating strawberry ice cream as a child. Of these, almost 20 percent later agreed on a questionnaire that they had, in fact, been sickened by the treat and that they intended to avoid it in the future.

The findings were stronger in a second experiment where -- in addition to the other steps -- students were asked to provide details about the imaginary strawberry ice cream episode. In that case, 41 percent of the subjects given erroneous information later believed the tale and said they intended to avoid the food.

Several weight-control experts expressed interest in the study, but skepticism about using implanted memories as a dieting technique. Michael Strober, professor of psychiatry and director of the eating disorders program at UCLA's School of Medicine, said pressures causing people to gain weight are myriad -- including rushed lives, high-calorie convenience foods and physical inactivity.

"Such systemic lifestyle issues need to be targeted by something far more comprehensive than implanting false memories," he said.

Deliberately implanting memories also raises profound ethical questions, said Stephen Behnke, director of the ethics office of the American Psychological Association.

"Say, for example, we could change a person's belief about their entire childhood," he said. "Would doing so be ethical?"

 

"Okay. I can eat this fourth cookie cuz I'm going to start exercising tomorrow."


I've had years of practice.