Introduction: The investigation of the variables involved in the establishment and
maintenance of food behavior is important, mainly because the food ingested interferes
in the survival of the organism. Eating disorders such as Ortorexia Nervosa can trigger
impairment of social interaction of individuals. It is assumed that orthorexic behavior is
controlled by rules associated with justifications. Therefore, the present study aimed to
evaluate whether participants who present a repertoire of behaviors classified as
orthorexic, tend to follow general rules associated with justifications or only food rules.
Method: To do this, in the first stage of the research, 200 nutrition students from two
colleges in Belém do Pará, the inflexibility questionnaire (to find adherents or not to
follow rules) and the Orto-15 questionnaire as a means of research of orthorexic
behavior. In the second stage, 12 participants (6 inflexible and 6 flexible) were exposed
to a computerized version of the procedure of choice to experimentally evaluate the
competition between control by justification for rule follow-up and control for
immediate consequences. There were 4 phases, where in all, only the CEF, CFE, FEC,
ECF and EFC sequences were reinforced immediately with points and participants only
progressed to subsequent phases if they reached the stipulated score. In Phase 1 only the
mentioned sequences were reinforced with exchangeable points for money in a
continuous reinforcement scheme. Phase 2 had the FCE sequence (shape, color and
thickness) as discrepant and only the CEF, CFE, FEC, ECF and EFC sequences were
reinforced. In Phases 3 and 4 the FCE discrepancy rule was associated with type 5
justifications (verbal antecedents of what to observe: reports that may indicate examples
of behaviors to be followed and examples of behaviors not to be followed) and again
only the sequences CEF, CFE, FEC, ECF and EFC were strengthened.
Results: Of the 200 students, 72% had a risk for orthorexia. In the second stage of the
experiment, we had 12 participants, where only 8 went to phase 3 (6 flexible and 2
inflexible), 4 of these participants had a risk for developing orthorexic behavior (2
inflexible and 2 flexible) the rule follow-up and only 1 followed the discrepant rule until
the end. The study showed that participants at risk for the development of orthorexia are
good adherents of rules favorable to healthy eating, but that this is not valid for general
rules associated with justifications of type 5, because they were under control of the
immediate consequences.
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