Appetite, 1999, 33, 129–139Article No. appe.1999.0236, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on

Characteristics of Eating in Anger, Fear, Sadness and Joy

M. MACHTInstitute for Psychology (I), University of Wurzburg, Germany

The influences of emotions on eating were investigated. One-hundred and sevenfemale and 103 male subjects were asked to report how various characteristics ofeating could change during the emotions of anger, fear, sadness and joy. Subjectscompleted a questionnaire of 33 items for each emotion and a food deprivationcondition. A factor analysis of the items answered with respect to food deprivationyielded four factors which were labelled hunger, impulsive eating, sensory eatingand hedonic eating. ANCOVAs showed main effects of emotions upon eachfactor. Single comparisons showed that: (1) subjects reported to experience higherlevels of hunger during anger and joy than during fear and sadness; (2) impulsiveeating and sensory eating were rated higher during anger than during the otheremotions; and (3) hedonic eating was rated higher during joy than during theother emotions. Results did not indicate any differential influences upon eatingbetween fear and sadness. Women reported to experience higher tendencies ofimpulsive eating and sensory eating than men during anger and sadness. Eatingscores of negative emotions correlated low and positive with body mass index,low and negative with dietary restraint. The differential effects of emotions oncharacteristics of eating may be due to differences of the examined emotions infrequency of occurrence, physiological correlates and motivational properties.

1999 Academic Press

I

Varying effects of emotions on human eating were demonstrated in experimentalstudies. Depending on individual characteristics such as dietary restraint, food intakeincreased or decreased in response to negative emotions (Ganley, 1989 and Greeno& Wing, 1994 for reviews). To explain the effects of emotions on eating differentmechanisms were hypothesized; for example, regulation of emotional stress by eating(Kaplan & Kaplan, 1957), misinterpretation of emotional arousal as hunger (Bruch,1973) and disinhibition of restrained eating during emotions (Herman & Polivy,1984). However, presently no comprehensive and testable model on the relationsbetween the emotions and eating has been developed. Theories frequently referredto dysregulated eating and focused less on the role of specific characteristics ofemotions in emotion-induced changes of eating.

Parts of this paper were presented at the 5th Round Table Meeting of the Consortium of EuropeanResearch on Emotion (CERE), Paris, 12–15 November 1997.

The author is grateful to Prof. Dr Heiner Ellgring for the discussions about the topic and to EricJohnson for helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. AOR Armin Rausche’s comments onstatistics were also very helpful.

Address correspondence to: Dr Michael Macht, Psychologisches Institut (I), Julius-Maximilians-Universitat, Domerschulstraße 13, D-97070 Wurzburg, Germany.

0195–6663/99/040129+11 $30.00/0 1999 Academic Press

130 M. MACHT

In contemporary theories of emotions, basic emotions such as anger, fear, joy,sadness, shame and disgust, are thought to serve distinct functions in the organizationand motivation of behaviour (Frijda, 1986; Izard, 1993; Plutchik, 1984). For example,sadness induces a slowing of motor activity and, mostly, low arousal, whereasanger mobilizes energy at high levels (Izard, 1993). Besides motivational properties,emotions also differ in antecedent conditions, physiological correlates, frequency ofoccurrence and duration (Scherer et al., 1986), and may therefore differ in theirassociability with eating. Associations between an emotion and eating should bestronger if this emotion occurs more frequently in eating contexts than other emotionsand elicits physiological and behavioural changes that are to a higher degreecompatible with eating. For example, during an emotion like fear that is mainlycharacterized by behavioural inhibition, the occurrence of eating may be less probablethan during an emotion like anger which activates behaviour.

A questionnaire study by Mehrabian (1980) indeed suggested different effects ofemotion qualities on amount of food intake. Subjects were asked to imaginethemselves in emotional states and then reported how much they would eat duringthat emotional state. Higher food consumption was reported during boredom,depression and fatigue. Lower food consumption was reported during fear, pain andtension. Compared with low arousal states, high arousal states were seen as inhibitingfood consumption. A study by Lyman (1982) demonstrated different effects ofemotion qualities on food preferences. Subjects reported experiencing a greatertendency to consume healthy foods during positive emotions and a greater tendencyto consume junk food during negative emotions. These results indicate differentinfluences of emotions on various characteristics of eating.

In the present study, a questionnaire was developed to systematically examinethe effects of the four basic emotions, anger, fear, sadness and joy on a number ofeating characteristics. The four emotions were selected because they probably differbasically in motivational properties and physiological correlates, and additionallyare experienced frequently by most people. Furthermore, anger, sadness and fearwere shown to precede binge eating in the obese (Arnow et al., 1995).

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Subjects

Two-hundred and ten subjects (107 female, 103 male) between 19 and 44 yearsof age (M=25, SD=4·2) participated voluntarily. Students of two psychology coursesat the University of Wurzburg were asked to recruit at least one woman and oneman between 19 and 45 years of age. Subjects returned the questionnaires in a closedenvelope. Subjects’ mean body mass index (BMI) was 21·8 (SD=2·5, range 17–31).The BMI of women (M=20·9, SD=2·2) was significantly lower than the BMI ofmen (M=22·7, SD=2·4; t(208)=−5·53, p<0.05). Restraint was measured with theThree Factors Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) by Stunkard and Messick (1985; mean=10·1, SD=4·2, range 0–23; women: M=10·3, SD=4·8, men: M=9·9, SD=3·4;t(208)=0·70, NS; German translation by Pudel & Westenhofer, 1989). Restraintscores were calculated by using items from the Cognitive Restraint Scale of theTFEQ.

131CHARACTERISTICS OF EATING IN EMOTIONS

Questionnaire

The construction of the questionnaire was based on the principle of Stimulus-Response-inventories and similar self-report measures used in research on emotions(e.g. Endler & Okada, 1975; Frijda et al., 1989; Mehrabian, 1980). These measuresrelate different emotion eliciting situations and/or feeling states to a number ofdistinct reactions the individual may show under these circumstances. Subjects wereasked to decide to what extent a number of eating-related items match their stateduring the experience of anger, fear, sadness and joy. On the top of each page ofthe questionnaire the emotional state was given [e.g. “When I experience a feelingof anger (e.g. angry, annoyed) . . .”]. The eating-related items were listed below (e.g.“. . . I tend to eat faster.”).

Thirty-three items were selected that describe food- and eating-related feelings,perceptions and cognitions as well as behavioural characteristics of eating, forexample, amount of food intake, eating speed and food selection (see Appendix fora list of the items). Each item was rated on a 7-point scale from “0=not at all” to“6=very strongly”.

Four emotions were imagined: anger, fear, sadness and joy. In order to facilitateimagination of emotional experiences two adjectives were given in parentheses aftereach emotion (angry/annoyed, anxious/fearful, sad/depressed and joyful/happy). Theemotion words were derived from the subtests of an adjective list designed to assessdifferent aspects of emotional state (Janke & Debus, 1978). The sequence of theemotions was counter-balanced.

The completion of the questionnaire and the TFEQ required approximately 1 h.In order to derive general characteristics of eating by factor analysis the items

were rated with respect to the state “after having skipped some meals” (fooddeprivation). The factor-analytic reduction of the 33 items to a smaller number ofindicators (characteristics of eating) was therefore based on descriptions of changesoccurring under the biologically appropriate motivational and metabolic antecedentsof eating. Thus, the effects of the emotions on measures of eating were evaluatedwith reference to “normal” or well-regulated eating.

Statistical Analysis

In a first step, principal factors extraction with varimax rotation was performedon the 33 items of the food deprivation condition. Two criteria were used to determinethe number of factors. The eigen value of a factor had to be >1 and each factor hadto include at least four marker variables, i.e. items that are highly correlated withone and only one factor (Tabachnik & Fidell, 1996). If these criteria were met bymore than one solution, the solution with the highest number of factors, i.e. thehighest differentiation, was chosen.

In a second step, repeated measures ANCOVAs were computed for the char-acteristics of eating (sum of items divided by number of items loading on eachfactor) with sex as the between-subjects factor and emotion as the within-subjects(repeated) factor (Greenhouse-Geisser adjustment of degrees of freedom). Body massindex and dietary restraint were entered as covariates. Comparisons between groupsand emotions were computed for variables for which an overall significant effect ofsex or emotion, or a Sex×Emotion interaction, was found. A Scheffe adjustmentwas applied to control for family-wise Type I error of comparisons between emotions.A Bonferroni adjustment was applied for comparisons between sexes (a/4=0·0125).

132 M. MACHT

T 1Factor loadings, communalities (h2) and percents of variance for principal factors

extraction and varimax rotation on the items of the questionnaire

Item F1 F2 F3 F4 h2

Desire to eat decreases 0·84 0·73Feel less hungry 0·78 0·62Think less often of food 0·75 0·59Feel more hungry −0·75 0·67More desire to eat −0·74 0·70Eat less 0·71 0·54Think more often of food −0·68 0·70Less aware of hunger symptoms 0·68 0·47Eating slower 0·65 0·57More aware of hunger symptoms −0·62 0·52Eat to feel better −0·61 0·53Emotionally unwell after eating 0·56 0·47 0·54Physically unwell after eating 0·55 0·49 0·57Eat more −0·54 0·55Gobble food 0·78 0·74Eat faster 0·76 0·67Chew not completely 0·72 0·59Giving up dietary intentions 0·68 0·50Eat all available food 0·51 0·49Less aware of taste 0·48 0·52Eating sweet food 0·23Eat irregularly 0·28Eat salty food 0·76 0·59Eat acidic food 0·74 0·57Eat hard food 0·69 0·50Eat to relax 0·52 0·46Eat to provide distraction 0·50 0·37Chewing more rigorously 0·45 0·40Eat to do something for me 0·50More aware of taste 0·80 0·67Eat tasty foods 0·70 0·56Food tastes better 0·68 0·52More aware of healthy foods 0·55 0·54

Percent of variance 26·00 16·00 7·90 4·60

Note. Factor labels: F1 Hunger, F2 Impulsive eating, F3 Sensory eating, F4 Hedonic eating.Loadings under 0·45 (under 20% variance) are not shown.

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Characteristics of Eating

Four factors were extracted. Loadings of variables on factors, communalitiesand percents of variance and covariance are shown in Table 1. Variables are orderedand grouped by size of loading to facilitate interpretation. Loadings under 0·45 (20%of variance) are not shown. The following interpretive labels are suggested: hunger(Factor 1), impulsive eating (Factor 2), sensory eating (Factor 3) and hedonic eating(Factor 4).

133CHARACTERISTICS OF EATING IN EMOTIONS

Items of Factor 1 (hunger) refer to decreases or increases of the desire to eat,feeling of hunger and hunger symptoms (e.g. stomach rumbling), thinking of foodand the amount of food intake. Therefore, Factor 1 may represent the generaltendency to consume food. Factor 2 (impulsive eating) describes fast and carelesseating (“chew not completely”, “less aware of taste”) that may be directed to eachfood type that is available. Factor 3 (sensory eating) describes a variant of eatingthat is directed to foods with intense flavours (“salty”, “acidic”) or to hard foodand that may help “to relax” or “to provide distraction”. This factor possiblyrepresents a tendency to consume snack foods as a sensory distraction. Factor 4(hedonic eating) reflects the tendency to eat because of the pleasant taste of the foodor because the consumed food is thought to be healthy.

Measures of internal consistency were calculated for each of the factors underthe food deprivation condition and under each emotion condition. Coefficients alphafor hunger were 0·90 (food deprivation), 0·78 (anger), 0·73 (fear), 0·81 (sadness),0·82 (joy), for impulsive eating 0·80, 0·85, 0·78, 0·77, 0·73, for sensory eating 0·78,0·78, 0·82, 0·76, 0·76 and 0·72, 0·80, 0·78, 0·69, 0·78 for hedonic eating.

Effects of Emotions on Eating Characteristics and Gender Differences

ANCOVAs revealed main effects of emotion on hunger, F(557,3)=24·95, p<0·001,on impulsive eating, F(559,3)=94·81, p<0·001, on sensory eating, F(609,3)=31·17,p<0·001, and on hedonic eating, F(624,3)=373·7, p<0·001. Single comparisonsrevealed the following differences between emotions: (1) hunger was reported to behigher during the emotions of anger and joy than during fear and sadness; (2) highertendencies of impulsive and sensory eating were reported for anger than for otheremotions. Additionally, scores of impulsive eating were higher for fear and sadnessthan for joy, and scores of sensory eating were higher for sadness than for joy; and(3) the tendency to enjoy eating was higher during joy than during negative emotionswhich did not differ in hedonic eating.

ANCOVAs also showed main effects of sex on impulsive eating, F(206,1)=7·22,p<0·01, and on sensory eating, F(206,1)=5·49, p<0·05, as well as a Sex×Emotioninteraction for sensory eating, F(609,3)=2·86, p<0·05. Single comparisons showedthat women reported more impulsive eating and more sensory eating than menduring anger and sadness.

Table 2 summarizes the results of single comparisons between emotions. Themeans of the eating characteristics under each emotion can be seen from Fig. 1. Thescores of the hunger factor were computed after inversion of the items negativelyrelated to eating (e.g. “. . . my desire to eat decreases”).

Correlations with Body Mass Index and Restraint

Correlation coefficients of eating characteristics during emotions with BMI andrestraint were low. None of the correlations exceeded 0·30, 50% of the correlationswere lower than 0·20. Body mass index correlated positively and restraint correlatednegatively with self-rated changes of eating during negative emotions. Contrastingly,during joy the correlation for hunger with BMI was negative, but positive withrestraint. Correlation coefficients are shown in Table 3.

134 M. MACHT

T 2Results of single comparisons between emotions and sexes

Hunger Impulsive Sensory Hedoniceating eating eating

Single comparisonsbetween emotions

Anger (A) vs. fear (F) A>F∗∗∗ A>F∗∗∗ A>F∗∗∗Anger vs. sadness (S) A>S∗∗∗ A>S∗∗∗ A>S∗∗∗Anger vs. joy (J) A>J∗∗∗ A>J∗∗∗ A<J∗∗∗Fear vs. sadnessFear vs. joy F<J∗∗∗ F>J∗∗∗ F<J∗∗∗Sadness vs. joy S<J∗∗∗ S>J∗∗∗ S>J∗∗ S<J∗∗∗

Single comparisons betweenwomen (W) and men (M)

Anger W>M∗ W>M∗FearSadness W>M∗∗ W>M∗Joy

Note. ∗, p<0·05; ∗∗, p<0·01; ∗∗∗, p<0·001.

D

The main purpose of the present study was to demonstrate differential effects ofanger, fear, sadness and joy on characteristics of eating. The general tendency to eat(Factor 1 labelled as hunger) was rated higher during anger and joy than duringfear and sadness. The influences of anger on impulsive eating (Factor 2) and onsensory eating (Factor 3) were rated higher than the influences of fear and sadness,which did not differ significantly in any eating characteristic. During joy the lowestvalues were reported in impulsive eating and in sensory eating, but the highest valuesin hedonic eating (Factor 4).

The derivation of eating characteristics by factor analysis of the items answeredwith respect to a state of energy depletion allowed an evaluation of emotion-inducedchanges of eating with reference to well-regulated, biologically appropriate eating.It may be objected that the validity of the present approach is limited, because thefactor structure may not be stable across emotions. However, it is a commonprocedure to factor-analyse the items of a questionnaire in a given sample and touse the derived subscales for the characterization of another sample, even if thesamples differ in such important variables as age or presence of pathologicalconditions. It should also be kept in mind that the four indicators of eating aretheoretically sound and allow a meaningful characterization of emotionally inducedchanges of eating. Moreover, the internal consistencies of the four indicators undereach emotion were sufficient to allow a reliable measurement. Obviously, thisapproach to examine emotion-induced changes of eating should be understood aspreliminary. Alternative methodological approaches using a different set of itemsand subjects may lead to different structures of eating responses.

At present, no firm conclusions can be drawn on the mechanisms mediating thedifferent effects of anger, fear, sadness and joy on eating characteristics. One canonly speculate that these effects may be due to differences between the emotions at

135CHARACTERISTICS OF EATING IN EMOTIONS

4

0Anger

Sel

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JoyFear Sadness

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JoyFear Sadness

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(b)

4

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(d)

F 1. Mean (±SEM) of (a) hunger, (b) impulsive eating, (c) sensory eating and (d)hedonic eating during anger, fear, sadness and joy in female (C) (N=107) and male (Φ)(N=103) subjects (sum of items loading on each factor divided by number of items). Subjectswere instructed to imagine themselves in the emotions and to decide to what extent eatingcharacteristics are changed during the emotions.

T 3Correlation coefficients (Pearson) for hunger, impulsive eating, sensory eating and

hedonic eating in anger, fear, sadness and joy with body mass index and restraint

Anger Fear Sadness Joy

BMIHunger 0·18∗∗ 0·18∗∗ 0·26∗∗∗ −0·18∗Impulsive eating 0·14∗ 0·16∗ 0·16∗ 0·02Sensory eating 0·07 0·13 0·23∗∗ 0·07Hedonic eating 0·15∗ 0·03 0·11 0·02

RestraintHunger −0·12 0·03 −0·24∗∗ 0·28∗∗∗Impulsive eating −0·26∗∗∗ −0·16∗ −0·30∗∗∗ −0·11Sensory eating −0·25∗∗∗ −0·18∗ −0·29∗∗∗ −0·08Hedonic eating −0·19∗∗ −0·21∗∗ −0·14 −0·13

Note. ∗, p<0·05; ∗∗, p<0·01; ∗∗∗, p<0·001.

136 M. MACHT

least in the following of their basic features: (1) frequency of occurrence; (2)physiological correlates; and (3) motivational properties.

First, differences in frequency of occurrence of anger, fear, sadness and joy couldlead to differences in strength of learned associations with eating. In a cross-culturalstudy on emotional experiences and emotional reactions with 779 respondents ineight European countries anger and joy were reported to be experienced morefrequently than sadness and fear (Scherer, 1986). Therefore, the frequency of angerand joy being associated with eating may be higher than for sadness and fear. Indeed,the present results suggest stronger influences of anger and joy on eating than ofsadness and fear.

Second, the differences in physiological response patterns of anger, fear, sadnessand joy may contribute to the mechanisms by which they affect eating. The patternof physiological arousal, especially in the autonomic nervous system, has been givena key role for the relations between the emotions and eating. For example, Hermanand Polivy (1984) argued that sympathetic arousal and increased blood glucoseduring fear or anxiety inhibit food intake in normal eaters. Unfortunately, thequestion of whether the different emotions are characterized by specific patterns ofphysiological arousal is not solved so far. Nevertheless, based on a review of theempirical work in this area Levenson (1988) predicts that ultimately it will be possibleto distinguish four negative emotions (fear, anger, sadness, disgust) based on measuresof the autonomic nervous system, and also the positive state of “relaxed happiness”.Also, on the self-report level there is clear evidence of distinct patterns of physiologicalchanges associated with anger, fear, sadness and joy (Rime & Giovannini, 1986).

A third possible reason for the effects of emotions on eating as reported in thepresent study could be the differences in the motivational properties of anger, fear,sadness and joy. Action tendencies are considered as essential components thatdifferentiate between emotions (Frijda, 1986). Frijda et al. (1989) define a state ofaction readiness, “as the individual’s readiness or unreadiness to engage in interactionwith the environment”. They asked subjects to remember instances of experiencingvarious emotional states and to answer a questionnaire on the activities that maybe instigated by the emotional states. Anger, fear, sadness and joy were grouped indifferent clusters of action readiness modes. Angry emotions differed from all otheremotions within the dimension of “Moving Against”. The relatively strong effectsof anger on impulsive eating and on sensory eating may be caused partially by theseaction tendencies.

The results of the present study rely solely on self-reported data and maycorrespond only in part to behavioural changes of eating induced by emotions. Forexample, people may not be aware of subtle changes of chewing behaviour duringemotional arousal (Macht, 1998). Furthermore, the four examined emotions coulddiffer in their mental representation and may therefore be judged differently in theirinfluences on eating. Thus, it seems crucial to conduct further experiments usingmeasures of eating behaviour and appropriate methods to induce emotional states,although the induction of discrete emotions which are comparable in intensitiesremains a methodological problem (Polivy, 1981). Whereas most experimental studieson emotion-induced changes of eating examined the effects of fear-eliciting situations,e.g. threat of shock, on amount of food intake (Greeno & Wing, 1994), the presentstudy suggests to examine the effects of situations eliciting anger on measures ofimpulsive eating, e.g. eating speed.

137CHARACTERISTICS OF EATING IN EMOTIONS

A further implication of the present results refers to the role of emotions ineating disorders. Anger, as compared to other negative emotions, possibly plays amajor role in emotionally elicited binge eating. Binge eaters described anger/frus-tration prior to a binge 42% of the time but sadness/depression only 16% of thetime (Arnow et al., 1992). Therapy of binge eating may therefore include theimprovement of the ability to cope with anger and frustration by other means thaneating. However, it remains to be examined, if the pattern of relations betweenemotions and eating described in the present study holds true for clinical populations,e.g. people with bulimia or anorexia nervosa.

In conclusion, this study indicated that the quality of emotions contributesessentially to the degree and the structure of emotion-induced changes of eating. Incomparison, the influences of individual characteristics such as gender, restraint orweight status seemed to be rather weak. Future studies may address the questionwhich specific characteristics of the basic emotions play a crucial role in determiningthe effects of these emotions on eating.

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Arnow, B., Kenardy, J. & Agras, W. S. (1992). Binge eating among the obese: A descriptivestudy. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15, 155–170.

Arnow, B., Kenardy, J. & Agras, W. S. (1995). The emotional eating scale: the developmentof a measure to assess coping with negative affect by eating. International Journal ofEating Disorders, 18, 79–90.

Bruch, H. (1973). Eating disorders. Riverside: Behavior Science Book Service.Endler, N. S. & Okada, M. (1975). A multidimensional measure of trait anxiety: The S-R-

inventory of general trait anxiousness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57,212–228.

Frijda, N. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Frijda, N., Kuipers, P. & ter Schure, E. (1989). Relations among emotion, appraisal, and

emotional action readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 212–228.Ganley, R. M. (1989). Emotion and eating in obesity: a review of the literature. International

Journal of Eating Disorders, 8, 343–361.Greeno, G. G. & Wing, R. R. (1994). Stress-induced eating. Psychological bulletin, 115,

444–464.Herman, C. P. & Polivy, J. (1984). A boundary model for the regulation of eating. In A. J.

Stunkard & E. Stellar (Eds), Eating and its disorders, pp. 141–156. New York: RavenPress.

Izard, C. E. (1993). Organizational and motivational functions of discrete emotions. In M.Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds), Handbook of Emotions, pp. 631–641. New York, London:Guilford Press.

Janke, W. & Debus, G. (1978). Die Eigenschaftsworterliste (EWL): Ein Verfahren zur Erfassungder Befindlichkeit. Toronto, Gottingen: Hogrefe & Huber.

Kaplan, H. I. & Kaplan, H. S. (1957). The psychosomatic concept of obesity. Journal ofNervous and Mental Disease, 125, 181–201.

Levenson, R. W. (1988). Emotion and the autonomic nervous system: a prospectus for researchon autonomic specifity. In H. L. Wagner (Ed.), Social psychophysiology and emotion:Theory and clinical applications, pp. 17–42. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Lyman, B. (1982). The nutritional values and food group characteristics of food preferredduring various emotions. Journal of Psychology, 112, 121–127.

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Plutchik, R. (1984). Emotions: a general psychoevolutionary theory. In K. R. Scherer & P.Ekman (Eds), Approaches to emotion, pp. 197–219. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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Received 10 September 1998, revision 11 January 1999, accepted in revised form 3 March 1999

AEmotions and Characteristics of Eating Questionnaire (ECEQ)

Emotions:(1) When I experience a feeling of sadness (e.g. sad, depressed) . . .(2) When I experience a feeling of fear (e.g. anxious, afraid) . . .(3) When I experience a feeling of anger (e.g. angry, annoyed) . . .(4) When I experience a feeling of joy (e.g. joyful, happy) . . .

Food deprivation:(5) After having skipped some meals . . .

Items:(1) . . . My desire to eat increases.(2) . . . I tend to eat less.(3) . . . I tend to eat faster.(4) . . . I tend to eat something acidic (e.g. pickles).(5) . . . I tend to give up my dietary intentions.(6) . . . I tend to not completely chew my food.(7) . . . I tend to eat to provide a distraction.(8) . . . I tend to eat all food, which is presently available.(9) . . . I tend to become less aware of hunger symptoms (e.g. empty feelings in

stomach, stomach rumbling).(10) . . . I tend to think more of food.(11) . . . I tend to eat something to relax.(12) . . . I tend to gobble my food.(13) . . . Food tastes better.(14) . . . I tend to eat something salty (e.g. peanuts, chips).(15) . . . I tend to eat irregularly.(16) . . . I tend to eat, in order to do something for myself.

139CHARACTERISTICS OF EATING IN EMOTIONS

(17) . . . My hunger increases.(18) . . . I tend to chew more rigorously.(19) . . . I tend to eat, because it makes me feel better.(20) . . . It is important for me to eat especially tasty foods.(21) . . . I tend to eat more.(22) . . . I tend to think less often of food.(23) . . . I tend to become more aware of hunger symptoms (e.g. empty feelings in

stomach, stomach rumbling).(24) . . . And thereby whetting my appetite, I feel emotionally unwell.(25) . . . I tend to pay special attention to eat healthy foods.(26) . . . I tend to be less aware of the taste of food.(27) . . . My desire to eat decreases.(28) . . . I tend to eat slower.(29) . . . I tend to be more aware of the taste of food.(30) . . . I become less hungry.(31) . . . And thereby whetting my appetite, I feel physically unwell.(32) . . . I tend to eat hard foods (e.g. an apple or nuts).(33) . . . I tend to eat sweet foods (e.g. chocolate).