The influence of feminist ascription on judgements of women's physical attractiveness

Rank-Order of Body Shapes Reveals Internal Hierarchy of Body Image

How do individuals rank body shapes? Does this relate to the body part one is most dissatisfied with? Our study investigates whether one can generalize regarding how women represent the body. Three BMI-calibrated images from the Photographic Figure Rating Scale, representative of thin (BMI = 14.72), medium (BMI = 20.33), and large (BMI = 29.26) shapes, were divided into torso, legs and arms, and saved as individual images on a black background. Of 27 possible composite images, 8 were chosen based on a Torso (thin vs. large) × Leg (thin/large vs. medium) × Arm (thin vs. large) design. Our 44 female participants ordered these from thinnest to largest. This was first according to torso, then leg, and finally arm: 41 individuals agreed on the thinnest image (thin torso, thin legs, thin arms), followed by a second image (thin torso, thin legs, large arms, n = 26; or thin torso, medium legs, thin arms, n = 10). One participant differed markedly in her choice of the first image (large torso, medium legs, thin arms). Interestingly, she scored 10 on the EDI-2 scale of Bulimic Tendencies, revealing high risk for bulimia, suggesting that our task might be useful for studying eating disorders. Our juxtaposition of two analytic procedures-partial order scalogram analysis (POSAC) and cluster analysis-enables one to uncover such outliers in a data set. Importantly, the 2D POSAC space clearly reveals the hierarchical structure of the body image.

Male Figural Rating Scales: A Critical Review of the Literature

Figural rating scales are tools used to measure male body dissatisfaction. The present review aimed to examine the design and psychometric properties of male figural rating scales and make recommendations based on findings. Relevant databases were systematically searched for studies that had developed and validated male figural rating scales. Twenty studies were included in this review. Figural rating scales differed in terms of the number of images represented and type of stimuli used (hand-drawn silhouettes, hand-drawn figures, computer-rendered figures, and photograph figures). Reliability and validity evidence varied greatly in strength across all scales. Four of the 20 scales included a correlational analysis between figural rating scale scores and eating disorder symptoms. Results showed the moderate to high positive correlations between eating disorder symptoms and figural rating scale perceived and index scores, suggesting that figural rating scales are sensitive to detecting eating disorder symptoms. Ideally, male figural rating scales should show strong validity and reliability, include variations in both body fat and muscularity, utilise realistic body stimuli, and be interval scales. No existing male figural rating scale meets these criteria. However, this review identifies five figural rating scales that meet the majority of the recommended criteria.

Female Body Dissatisfaction and Attentional Bias to Body Images Evaluated Using Visual Search

One factor, believed to predict body dissatisfaction is an individual’s propensity to attend to certain classes of human body image stimuli relative to other classes. These attentional biases have been evaluated using a range of paradigms, including dot-probe, eye-tracking and free view visual search, which have yielded a range of – often contradictory – findings. This study is the first to employ a classic compound visual search task to investigate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and attentional biases to images of underweight and with-overweight female bodies. Seventy-one undergraduate females, varying their degree of body dissatisfaction and Body Mass Index (BMI), searched for a horizontal or vertical target line among tilted lines. A separate female body image was presented within close proximity to each line. On average, faster search times were obtained when the target line was paired with a uniquely underweight or with-overweight body relative to neutral (average weight only) trials indicating that body weight-related images can effectively guide search. This congruent search effect was stronger for individuals with high eating restraint (a behavioral manifestation of body image disturbance) when search involved a uniquely underweight body. By contrast, individuals with high BMIs searched for lines more rapidly when paired with with-overweight rather than underweight bodies, than did individuals with lower BMIs. For incongruent trials – in which a unique body was paired with a distractor rather than the target – search times were indistinguishable from neutral trials, indicating that the deviant bodies neither compulsorily “captured” attention nor reduced participants’ ability to disengage their attention from either underweight or with-overweight bodies. These results imply the existence of attentional strategies which reflect one’s current body and goal-directed eating behaviors.

A model-driven approach to studying dissociations between body size mental representations in anorexia nervosa

This study compared dissociations between mental representations of current, ideal and normal body sizes (i.e., Current BS, Ideal BS and Normal BS) for women with anorexia nervosa (AN group, n=56) and healthy women (control group, n=56). Along the lines of the single channel model of Cornelissen et al. (2013), the discrepancy between Current BS and BMI for both groups was adequately described along a common linear continuum of Current BS (mis)perception. Body size mental representations were ranked similarly (Ideal BS<Current BS<Normal BS) in each group. Whilst the over-estimation of Current BS was much greater among the AN group than the control group, body dissatisfaction was better explained by Current BS for the AN group and by BMI for the control group. Dissociation between Current BS and participants' BMI appears to be a key element when seeking to understand AN.

The role of memory in the relationship between attention toward thin-ideal media and body dissatisfaction

PURPOSE

This study examined the causal relationship between attention and memory bias toward thin-body images, and the indirect effect of attending to thin-body images on women's body dissatisfaction via memory.

METHOD

In a 2 (restrained vs. unrestrained eaters) × 2 (long vs. short exposure) quasi-experimental design, female participants (n = 90) were shown images of thin models for either 7 s or 150 ms, and then completed a measure of body dissatisfaction and a recognition test to assess their memory for the images.

RESULTS

Both restrained and unrestrained eaters in the long exposure condition had better recognition memory for images of thin models than did those in the short exposure condition. Better recognition memory for images of thin models was associated with lower body dissatisfaction. Finally, exposure duration to images of thin models had an indirect effect on body dissatisfaction through recognition memory.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that memory for body-related information may be more critical in influencing women's body image than merely the exposure itself, and that targeting memory bias might enhance the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification programs.

Construção, adaptação e validação de escalas de silhuetas para autoavaliação do estado nutricional: uma revisão sistemática da literatura

A autoavaliação da imagem corporal é uma construção multidimensional por meio da qual os indivíduos descrevem as representações internas da estrutura corporal e da aparência física, em relação a si próprio e aos outros. As Escalas de Silhuetas são testes que viabilizam a autoavaliação, especialmente em pesquisas de campo, devido ao baixo custo e facilidade na administração do método. O objetivo deste trabalho foi resgatar as Escalas de Silhuetas construídas ou adaptadas desde 1983 e realizar uma revisão sistemática sobre a validação destas frente a medidas objetivas do estado nutricional. Foram identificados 33 estudos com grande variação na correlação com o estado nutricional de adultos, tanto para as Escalas de Silhuetas adaptadas (coeficientes de correlação de 0,66 a 0,87) quanto para as construídas (0,59 a 0,94). Já em crianças e adolescentes, as correlações entre as Escalas de Silhuetas e o estado nutricional não resultaram em valores satisfatórios em vários dos estudos. Muitos trabalhos utilizaram estatística inapropriada. Os dados da presente revisão indicam que deve-se ter cuidado no uso de Escalas de Silhuetas para estimar o estado nutricional com ou sem a medição antropométrica.

Assessing anti-fat bias in preschoolers: a comparison of a computer generated line-drawn figure array and photographic figure array

This study examined differences in preschoolers' ratings of anti-fat bias and identification of current body size depending on the realism of the figure array used: computer generated line-drawn or photographic. Children reported strong anti-fat bias with both arrays. However, less extreme bias was elicited with the photographic figure array. In addition, children were inaccurate reporters of their current body size when both figure arrays were used. However, children were consistent in their selection of figures that were thinner than their actual body size. Children's consistent selection of thinner figures as representative of their current body size may be an additional indicator of anti-fat bias. Overall, these results suggest that some of the anti-fat bias observed in preschoolers is attributable to less realistic figure arrays. Therefore, photographic figure arrays are proposed as a better measurement tool in the assessment of anti-fat bias in preschoolers.

More than just skin deep? Personality information influences men's ratings of the attractiveness of women's body sizes

This study examined the influence of personality information on perceptions of the physical attractiveness of a range of female body sizes. A sample of 2,157 male university students were randomly assigned to one of 10 groups in which they received personality information about women they were rating, or a control group in which they received no personality information. Controlling for participants' age and body mass index, results showed no significant between-group differences in the body size that participants found most attractive. However, participants provided with positive personality information perceived a wider range of body sizes as physically attractive compared with the control group, whereas participants provided with negative personality information perceived a narrower range of body sizes as attractive. Correlations showed that participants' own Extraversion was associated with their body size ratings. These results suggest that non-physical cues have an influence on the perception of physical beauty.

Assessment of body-image perception and attitudes in obesity

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To examine techniques that have been used to assess various aspects of body-image perception and body-image attitudes in obesity. It summarizes findings from previous review articles and reports on new research findings that have been published between August 2007 and August 2010.

RECENT FINDINGS

Body-image perception and attitudes in obesity have been assessed using questionnaires, figural drawing scales and computer morphing or adjustment programs. Most of these techniques have been developed to assess body image in eating disorders and as such are not specific to the assessment of body image in obesity.

SUMMARY

Body-image perception and body-image attitudes are commonly assessed in research studies on obesity. However, currently available assessment instruments have not been developed specifically for use in obese populations and not all have been validated in these populations. Researchers should be careful in selecting assessment instruments that are appropriate for use in obesity.

Oppressive Beliefs at Play: Associations among Beauty Ideals and Practices and Individual Differences in Sexism, Objectification of Others, and Media Exposure

In recent years, beauty ideals and practices have been explained almost exclusively using evolutionary psychological frameworks, to the exclusion of more proximate factors such as psychosocial and individual psychological variables. To overcome this limitation, we examined the associations among sexist beliefs, objectification of others, media exposure, and three distinct beauty ideals or practices. Across three studies, a total of 1,158 participants in a British community sample completed a series of scales that measured their attitudes toward women, hostility toward women, benevolent sexism, hostile sexism, their tendency to objectify others, media exposure, and endorsement of the thin ideal and (for women) body dissatisfaction (Study 1); height preferences in an other-sex partner (Study 2); and endorsement of cosmetic use (Study 3). Across the three studies, results supported the idea that sexist beliefs predicted beauty ideals and practices, although the strength of these associations varied according to the ideal or practice in question. These results support feminist critiques that beauty ideals and practices in Western societies are linked with sexist attitudes. Furthermore, our results suggest that programmes aimed to reduce or eliminate sexist attitudes, or that promote more gender egalitarian attitudes, may result in healthier beauty ideals and practices.

Big beautiful women: the body size preferences of male fat admirers

This study examined the body size ideals of a group of male fat admirers (FAs) in comparison with an age- and body mass index (BMI)-matched control sample. Forty-seven men, who were involved in the fat acceptance community, and 64 control individuals rated a series of 10 images of women that varied in BMI from emaciated to obese. As expected, the results showed that FAs rated a significantly higher BMI as the most physically attractive compared with the control sample. FAs also rated figures with higher BMIs, particularly those in overweight and obese categories, more positively than did the control group. In addition, FAs perceived a wider range of body sizes to be physically attractive than the control group. Participant demographics did not predict ratings over and above affiliation with either the FA or control groups. These results are discussed in relation to the growing body of work examining fat admiration.