An attentional bias for thin bodies and its relation to body dissatisfaction.
Research suggests that humans have an attentional bias for the rapid detection of emotionally valenced stimuli, and that such a bias might be shaped by clinical psychological states. The current research extends this work to examine the relation between body dissatisfaction and an attentional bias for thin/idealized body shapes. Across two experiments, undergraduates completed a gender-consistent body dissatisfaction measure, and a dot-probe paradigm to measure attentional biases for thin versus heavy bodies. Results indicated that men (n=21) and women (n=18) show an attentional bias for bodies that correspond to their own gender (Experiment 1), and that high body dissatisfaction among men (n=69) and women (n=89) predicts an attentional bias for thin same-gender bodies after controlling for body mass index (BMI) (Experiment 2). This research provides a new direction for studying the attentional and cognitive underpinnings of the relation between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders.
Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA. Electronic address: christina.joseph@rutgers.edu.
Christina
C
Joseph
Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.
Vanessa
V
LoBue
Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.
Luis M
LM
Rivera
Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.
Jennifer
J
Irving
Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.
Sarah
S
Savoy
Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA.
Maggie
M
Shiffrar
D000328:Adult; D000070379:Attentional Bias / Q000502:physiology*; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D049628:Body Size; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D055815:Young Adult
Attentional biases; Body dissatisfaction; Body image; Visual attention