Why did I eat that? Perspectives on food decision making and dietary restraint

Consumers trying to watch or restrict what they eat face a battle each day as they attempt to navigate the food-rich environments in which they live. Due to the complexity of food decision making, consumers are susceptible to a wide range of social, cognitive, affective, and environmental forces determined to interrupt their intentions to restrict their dietary intake. In this article, we integrate literature from diverse theoretical perspectives into a conceptual framework designed to offer a better understanding of the antecedents, interruptions, and consequences of dietary restraint. We outline a path for researchers to investigate how restraint behaviors in the eating domain influence a wide variety of consumer psychological phenomena. It is our hope that a collective examination of this literature provides a lens that directs future research on food decision making and dietary restraint and empowers consumers to invest their cognitive and behavioral resources towards healthy eating behaviors.     

‘Any room won’t do.’ Clinical psychologists’ understanding of the consulting room. An interview study

In the social sciences, there is increasing interest in spatial practices and the meaning of places. The meaning of the psychotherapeutic room and its boundaries has traditionally been underlined in psychodynamic practice. In this study we investigated how clinical psychologists, working from different perspectives and with varying interventions and populations understand and use the consulting room. Five clinical psychologists were interviewed about how they perceive and use consulting rooms. The interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants understood the consulting room as a logistic unit but also as a welcoming place for relational encounters and sensed that spatial stability was important for their capacity to be fully attentive to their clients. Moreover, technological booking systems could hinder clinical work. The results were understood with respect to Winnicott’s theories of transitional space and holding. In sum, the importance of the room does not seem to be of concern exclusively to psychodynamic psychologists. On the contrary, it seems as if psychologists working with varying interventions and from different perspectives emphasise stable and personal consulting rooms that permit them to adapt to the needs of the clients, be attentive, and avoid disturbances.