肥胖的心理学解释:成功和不足

Psychological Study on Obesity: Advancement and Ignorance

近几十年来世界范围内肥胖问题愈发严重,至今还没有手段遏制这个趋势。理解肥胖发生和发展的机制极为关键。诚然,肥胖是一个复杂的、异质的现状,需要从多个学科视角对肥胖进行研究。心理学对其超过半个世纪的研究探索中有收获也有不足。本文回顾了心理学研究肥胖的理论历程以及现状,总结了过去的研究中一些可靠的、可以为未来的研究提供坚实基础的观察,也指出了不再适用的一些理论观点。肯定现有的心理学理论在解释进食行为开始的方面很有说服力,也指出未来需要加大力度研究进食行为结束的方面。

In recent decades, the rate of obesity and overweight increases rapidly across the world and there has no effective policy to stop this trend. It is critical to understanding the occurrence and development mechanisms of obesity. Indeed, it should be acknowledged that obesity is a very complex and heterogeneous condition which should be studied by multiple disciplines. Psychologists have studied this condition for more than half a century. This article reviewed the past theories and studies related to obesity to show what we have achieved and what should we do in the future. The newest theory from the perspective of eating initiating has advantage on explaining why it is so difficult for people to achieve their weight control goals, but it didn’t explain why their stop option seems to be broken which deserves more attention in the future.