The effects of meal cues and amount consumed on predictions of future eating in others

In Study 1, participants watched one of four videotapes of a target person who was eating; two independent variables were manipulated. The first involved the presence/absence of various behaviors associated with meals (e.g., using utensils, sitting to eat). The second varied the amount of food eaten. After viewing their assigned, videotapes, participants provided an open-ended description of what was happening in the videotape and rated the likelihood of the target engaging in a number of behaviors within several time frames. Results showed that when the target person engaged in behaviors usually associated with meals, she was more likely to be spontaneously described as eating a meal and was rated as less likely to eat/feel hungry in the next 2 hours than when meal-associated behaviors were absent. Amount consumed had no effect on the dependent variables. Studies 2 and 3 successfully ruled out some alternative explanations for the Study I results.