WISE INTERVENTIONS

People trying to lose weight were (1) led to view weight as changeable with effort (implicit-theories treatment); (2) received high quality information about scientifically validated means to lose weight (e.g., reduced pace of eating, mechanisms linking exercise to weight loss) (knowledge treatment); or (3) assigned to a control condition. Over a 12-week assessment period, both treatments prevented weight gain observed in the control condition. Additionally, whereas people in the knowledge treatment and control conditions gained more weight when they experienced more severe dieting setbacks (e.g., overeating at a party), those in the implicit-theories treatment lost more weight when they experienced greater setbacks.