Four researchers Brownell, Crum, Corbin, and Salovey (2011) set out to design a study that aimed at testing the hypothesis of whether the use of gut peptide ghrelin in measuring physiological satiation varies based on the individual mindset in the way we people approach consumption of food. In doing their test, they identified forty-six subjects mostly from the community of New Haven.
The researchers applied the use of experimental research method whereby there was a manipulation of the independent variable, and also it involved the random assignment. In the test, they applied only one significant independent variable. Alteration of food labels was put into use in isolating the mindset effect, which was in response to the experimental manipulation. A schedule was made at the Yale Clinical Research Centre that ran for two hours and some thirty minutes extra sessions. The sessions were scheduled to start in two different settings that were spread a week apart. One session would begin at eight in the morning, and another was expected to start twenty minutes past eight in the morning, and the participants had to fast overnight. During the first session, the subjects were provided with information that the research Centre had was experimenting on two varying milkshakes that were comprised of different nutritional contents. The participants were asked to taste each of the milkshakes at an interval of one week. They were made to understand that this study aimed at determining whether the taste of the milkshakes was the same and also aimed at examining the reaction of the body to the contents in the milkshakes. There was an evaluation of the independent variable and to see its effect on the dependent variable, and that was their levels of ghrelin and the body reaction to it. The examination was also on the thoughts of the participants on how good the milkshakes tasted, how healthy it was, and also how they felt regarding hunger.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The researchers were in control of how quickly each participant was consuming the shake by instructing them to drink the milkshake in 10 minutes. The age interval was between the age of eighteen and thirty-five years, and they were also of average weight. Screenings were done on a variety of diseases such as diabetes, allergies, among other medical conditions. From the procedure used the participants did not know that milkshakes were identical (Crum et al., 2011). During the sessions, blood was drawn, and the samples were taken at a sixty and a ninety-minute mark. The first interval was for the participants to label the shake, and the second was for them to do the rating.
Assessment of the effects of the levels of satiation and the thoughts of the participants was done using a mixed model of variances (ANOVA) where the shake type, controlled intake, and order were all used as the factors to be used in the study. The researchers obtained information that was in confirmation with their hypothesis. Those participants who consumed the shake with non-judgemental mindset had lower levels of ghrelin compared to the other participants. The above suggests that there is a connection identified to satiation and craving. The participants who did not have an indulgent mindset showed a slight rise in their ghrelin levels over the time they consumed it. That means that they were not physiologically satiated. The researchers noticed that the participants rated the sensi-shake to be healthier compared to the other milkshake. But, the participants showed no differences in their report on how they felt in terms of hunger, which showed that there was no connection between satiation and cravings.
Critique
Generally, we can say that the design of the study was excellent in the test of the hypothesis whether satiation psychologically would vary depending on the mindset of individuals after consumption of milkshakes. The technique that was put into practice by using similar milkshake for two different groups of participants and the responses acquired can be compared in similarity to the proven theory of counterregulatory eating. The above is a phenomenon where an individual can consume more of something they had consumed before than in a scenario where they might not have eaten at all. The results that the researchers gathered can be accepted to make sense since when individuals have thoughts that they have eaten the food of high-calorie say that they are full and are likely to consume less. If they feel that they are consuming low-calorie foods, they have a perception of being hungry.
The validity of results is always based upon whether the study has measured what it was aimed to measure. The above hypothesis shows a pattern of ghrelin levels, which has consistency, and the scenario could be the same in case they consumed milkshakes of different calories. Hence, the results are considered to have reliability. The validity of the above results is though not that strong. There was restrained eating in the study, but it did not have a lot of significance about the study. Despite that research shows that restrained eaters will likely bring out different results if they had consumed the milkshakes. You can question what they measured through ghrelin levels, yet they had the participants fasting. The results of those variables may not be reliable, according to my thinking. The fact that the participants show no significant differences in their hunger feelings despite their mindset, research shows that psychological sensitivity may cause changes to the effects of ghrelin on the body.
Setback in the testing of the hypothesis could be regarding the way the researchers failed to make an interpretation of the data and the effects of the order of the milkshakes. After consumption of the indulgent shake, the participants exhibited a steeper rise in the levels of ghrelin and at the same time a significant decline on how they felt in terms of hunger. When measuring hunger, from the analyses shown there were no effects that were as a function of the time of consumption, milkshake or the restraint of eating .one can argue that the results obtained regarding the ghrelin levels were psychologically mediated. An increase in the levels of ghrelin is likely to lead to a significant increase in body weight and the addition of body fats in the body due to the consumption of calories.
Brief Summary
The four researchers in the above study aim at testing the hypothesis of the effect of physiological satiation in the determination of whether mindset can be used to prove the above using the measurement of ghrelin. In two different setups, 46 participants were put up to the test of consuming two different milkshakes under the assumption that they were different, one indulgent and the other sensi-shake. Blood samples were taken from the participants at three times points, which are the baseline, the, and the anticipatory. The researchers in the first interval requested the participants to view, rate the label of the milkshakes, and it was aimed at misleading them. In the second interval, the participants were asked to drink and make the rating of the milkshakes. After consumption of the indulgent shake, the participants had a mindset that led to a steep decline in the levels of ghrelin. However, in the second consumption, which was the sensi-shake, their mindset resulted in low levels of ghrelin. What was significant is that the satiety of all of them remained consistent all that time based on what they believed and not the nutritional content of what they had consumed. The conclusion that the researchers made was that the effect that comes from food consumption using the ghrelin measurements is probably psychologically mediated and that mindset can have an influence in the way someone psychologically responds to food.
Reference
Crum, A. J., Corbin, W. R., Brownell, K. D., & Salovey, P. (2011). Mind over milkshakes: mindsets, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response. Health Psychology , 30 (4), 424.
