PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY IN THE NEWS
FAD DIETS INCREASE WEIGHT
Resources for Courses
Activity Overview
Many students struggle to understand the models or theories of dieting and therefore write
weak answers which demonstrate limited knowledge and understanding.
Resources Required
E
Students should be able to demonstrate and apply their knowledge of Polivy’s Restrain
Theory which was later developed into the Boundary Model (Herman and Polivy, 1984) and
the idea of disinhibition.
 Fad Diets Lead to Weight Gain Not Weight Loss Handout
M
PL
Teacher Instructions
Teaching & Learning Strategy A
Provide your students with a copy of the Fad Diets Lead to Weight Gain Not Weight Loss
Handout. Ask your students to start by reading the question in the ‘Applying Your Knowledge’
section. Then ask them to read, highlight and annotate the news article, picking out any
information that will help them to apply their knowledge. Finally, the students should attempt
the application question. While this style of question is slightly different to what your students
might get in their exam, if you want to put a mark on this question for assessment purposes,
I would imagine that a six mark question would be ideal here.
Preparation Work
SA
To make this activity more challenging and arguably more interesting, you may wish to set
your students a homework task where they bring in their own news articles on dieting, which
they can easily find on the internet, by searching for the terms ‘Diet, Weight, Gain’ on Google.
Your students can then share their sources and conduct a thematic analysis where they seek
to identify and explore common themes and explanations of why diets fail.
Finally, they can try to link
their themes to the different
theories, including restraint
theory, the boundary model
and disinhibition.
© TUTOR2U AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY
www.tutor2u.net/psychology
PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY IN THE NEWS
M
PL
E
FAD DIETS INCREASE WEIGHT
Resources for Courses
Applying Your Knowledge
SA
Read the new story titled ‘Fad Diets Lead to Weight Gain Not Weight Loss’. Then answer the
following question.
The News Article suggests diets fail is because people are trying to restrict their diet. Using your
knowledge of restraint theory, the boundary model and disinhibition, explain this view.
© TUTOR2U AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY
www.tutor2u.net/psychology