ReviewThe American psychologist
Choice is relative: Reinforcing value of food and activity in obesity treatment.
Review in The American psychologist. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reducing relative food reinforcement of infants using a music enrichment program: a randomized, controlled trial.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2022Trial
- Beyond weight loss: Integrating GLP-1 RA therapies into psychological and behavioral care for obesity and binge eating disorder.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Feasibility and Acceptability of a Novel Behavioral Economic Coaching Session to Address Physical Activity and TV Watching: An Open Pilot Trial.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- The secret life of all-or-nothing thinking with exercise: new insights into an overlooked barrier.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Eating Well When Living With an Intellectual Disability-Exploring the Carer: Client Relationship in Residential Settings.Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID · 2025Article
- Effects of Episodic Memory Recall on Reinforcing Value of Physical Activity.Psychological reports · 2025Article
- Leveraging recreational activities to reduce obesity-related behaviors in children from lower-income households.Appetite · 2025Article
- Using Metabolic Testing to Personalize Behavioral Obesity Treatment.Obesity science & practice · 2025Article
- Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence: The Role of Motivation for Physical Activity, Self-Esteem, Implicit and Explicit Attitudes toward Obesity and Physical Activity.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Effects of the HEARTY exercise randomized controlled trial on eating behaviors in adolescents with obesity.Obesity science & practice · 2023Article
- Parents' recalled experiences of the child centred health dialogue in children with overweight: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- A value accumulation account of unhealthy food choices: testing the influence of outcome salience under varying time constraints.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2023Article
- Reasons individuals stop eating questionnaire (RISE-Q) among adults in the United Arab Emirates.PloS one · 2023Article
- Feasibility of a Theory-Based, Online Tailored Message Program to Motivate Healthier Behaviors in College Women.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Thirty Obesity Myths, Misunderstandings, and/or Oversimplifications: An Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) Clinical Practice Statement (CPS) 2022.Obesity pillars · 2022Article
- Valuing the Diversity of Research Methods to Advance Nutrition Science.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2022Article
- Family-based interventions for preventing overweight or obesity among preschoolers from racial/ethnic minority groups: A scoping review.Obesity science & practice · 2022Article
- The impact of yoga on components of energy balance in adults with overweight or obesity: A systematic review.Obesity science & practice · 2022Review
- A child-centered health dialogue for the prevention of obesity in child health services in Sweden - A randomized controlled trial including an economic evaluation.Obesity science & practice · 2022Article
- Food reinforcement and habituation to food are processes related to initiation and cessation of eating.Physiology & behavior · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Persons with obesity find high-energy-dense food and sedentary behaviors highly reinforcing. Diets and exercise programs deprive individuals of many favorite foods and activities, which can counterproductively heighten their value and lead to relapse. Since the value of reinforcers depend on the alternatives available, one approach to reducing food and sedentary activity reinforcement is to build healthy alternative reinforcers. Current behavioral treatment programs for children and adults do not attempt to build alternative reinforcers as substitutes for unhealthy behaviors to reduce the impact of food or activity deprivation on the motivation to eat or be inactive. A goal of the next generation of obesity treatment programs should focus on development of healthy behaviors as reinforcers so that people will be motivated to engage in them. This article provides an overview of relationships among reinforcers, how understanding substitutes and complements can influence eating and activity, and how enriching a person's environment and providing choice architecture can enhance weight control. Ideas for translation of these basic behavioral economic principles to obesity treatment programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.