The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a cognitive-dissonance based intervention in reducing disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. The intervention program created dissonance through discussion, exercises, and homework aimed at addressing and countering internalized sociocultural pressures, beliefs and values about women's bodies, attractiveness, and worth in the U.S. Seventy-seven female undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: cognitive-dissonance, combined cognitive-dissonance, healthy weight placebo control, and wait-list control To determine effectiveness of the intervention, MANCOVA procedures were used, with Time 1 scores serving as the covariate. Overall, the women who received the dissonance based interventions produced the strongest effects among measures assessing sociocultural pressures, internalization, and body dissatisfaction in comparison to the control group, and experienced significant reductions in dieting behaviors and bulimic symptoms over the course of the study, suggesting that the creation of dissonance via the intervention assisted the women in reducing eating disorder risk factors. Tebbe for all their efforts and enthusiasm in the initial development of these programs.On a personal note, I would like to thank Kelsey Latimer for her unconditional support throughout this program and for making studying for tests seem like a lot of fun! I would like to thank all my family members (Momm, Dadd, Elissa, Michael, Tom, Sarah, Gramma, Gloria, Horacio, Florencia, and Alejandro) for always caring and listening to me when I had a lot to say. Finally, I would like to thank Sebastian Machin for his generosity, support, and love…we did it.iii (Mussell, Binford, & Fulkerson, 2000). Even so, most researchers acknowledge the central role that sociocultural factors play in their development (Striegel-Moore & Bulik, 2007). The pursuit and internalization of societal ideals of thinness (the "thin ideal") may be attributable in part to repeated exposure to messages, communicated by family, friends, and the media, that glamorize and glorify excessive thinness (Irving, 1990;Stice, Schupak-Neuberg, Shaw, & Stein, 1994). Women may become dissatisfied with their bodies as they compare themselves to these unrealistic and unattainable societal body ideals (Brownell, 1991), and then react to this dissatisfaction in one (or both) of two specific ways. For some women, because physical appearance strongly influences their self-evaluation and emotional state, body dissatisfaction can lead to feelings of sadness, guilt, shame, depression, anxiety, and hostility. To cope with and distract themselves from these negative emotions, these women may binge eat; that is, eating becomes a salve for their affective distress (Stice, 2001). Other women may react to their body dissatisfaction by increasing their efforts to diet in an attempt to alter physical size to more closely approximate the societal thin-ideal. Because of the extensive caloric restriction and the inability to mai...