title: Patients with obesity show reduced memory for others' body shape.
abstract: Social comparison theory assumes that individuals regularly compare themselves to others and that the comparisons are relevant for their self-esteem. For individuals with obesity, these social comparisons will yield a negative outcome with respect to body shape in the majority of social contacts. It is proposed that, when confronted with other persons, individuals with obesity avoid social comparisons on the dimension of body shape. Using a multinomial account of social categorization, 19 female psychotherapy patients with morbid obesity were compared to 19 non-obese female psychotherapy patients. As predicted, results reveal reduced memory for body shape categories in patients with obesity, indicating a reduced processing of body shape information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany. i.wegener@gmx.de
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wegener
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: De Beer
authors.forename: Guntram
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schilling
authors.forename: Rupert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imbierowicz
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Geiser
authors.forename: Florentine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wermter
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rüddel
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liedtke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012928:Social Desirability; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology*