Impaired color naming of food and body shape words: weight phobia or distinct affective state?
OBJECTIVE
The current study investigated whether a concern with body shape and weight represents a distinct affective state, or whether it is better conceptualized as a highly specific form of anxiety.


METHODS
The color-naming performance of women with a high Drive for Thinness score was examined under three experimental conditions: when a photograph of chocolate was present, when actual chocolate was present, and a control condition. High Drive for Thinness subjects demonstrated relatively impaired color naming of body shape words in the picture condition, but not in the food or control conditions.


RESULTS
Although there was a significant impairment in the color naming of food words, this was unaffected by condition or degree of Drive for Thinness.


CONCLUSIONS
The results are interpreted as supporting an analogy between weight/body shape concerns and subclinical phobic anxiety.
Green
M W
MW
Consumer Sciences Department, Institute of Food Research, Reading, Berks, United Kingdom.
Elliman
N A
NA
Rogers
P J
PJ
Welch
D A
DA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D003118:Color Perception; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D014825:Vocabulary