Self-Compassion and Need Frustration Moderate the Effects of Upward Appearance Comparisons on Body Image Discrepancies

Abstract

Drawing from diverse theoretical frameworks, we examined predictors of discrepancy between current and ideal body image in a sample of 396 Greek adolescents. The participants completed assessments of the frequency of comparing oneself with someone of perceived better appearance, appearance evaluations, frustration of basic psychological needs, and appearance self-compassion. We found that upward appearance comparisons negatively predicted appearance evaluation, which in turn was a negative predictor of body image discrepancy. Moderated mediation analyses showed that appearance self-compassion buffered, whereas psychological need frustration augmented the negative effects of upward comparisons on appearance evaluation. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on body image discrepancies in adolescence by examining moderating factors that amplify or buffer such discrepancies, hence identifying viable intervention pathways.     

Neuronal assemblies: necessity, signature and detectability

The ease with which highly developed brains can generate representations of a virtually unlimited diversity of perceptual objects indicates that they have developed very efficient mechanisms to analyse and represent relations among incoming signals. Here, we propose that two complementary strategies are applied to cope with these combinatorial problems. First, elementary relations are represented by the tuned responses of individual neurons that acquire their specific response properties (feature selectivity) through appropriate convergence of input connections in hierarchically structured feed-forward architectures. Second, complex relations that cannot be represented economically by the responses of individual neurons are represented by assemblies of cells that are generated by dynamic association of individual, featureselective cells. The signature identifying the responses of an assembly as components of a coherent code is thought to be the synchronicity of the respective discharges. The compatibility of this hypothesis is examined in the context of recent data on the dynamics of synchronization phenomena, the dependence of synchronization on central states and the relations between the synchronization behaviour of neurons and perception.     

Where we stand today in the practice of evaluation: Some reflections

It is a great pleasure and privilege to be here in The Hague this morning to help celebrate what we hope will be a first historic meeting of the European Evaluation Society. It’s a happy day, not only because of the international character of this group and its impressive collective credentials, but also because this conference fits so well into the generally high hopes and expectations that we have for evaluation today. Eleanor Chelimsky is GAO’s Assistant Comptroller General for Program Evaluation. Since 1980, she has directed GAO’s Program Evaluation and Methodology Division. Chelimsky is a member of the advisory boards for the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and for Camegie-Mellon’s John Heinz School of Public Policy. She is also a member of the editonal review board for the Sage Research Series in Evaluation and serves on the editorial boards of two joumals:Policy Studies Review andPolicy Studies Review Annual.     

Measures of play behavior: The influence of sex-role stereotyped children's books

Preschool children significantly more often chose a sex-stereotypic toy following exposure to a sex-stereotypic children's book. Conversely, boys and girls exposed to a nonstereotypic book significantly more often selected a nonstereotypic toy. Boys and girls individually played with stereotypic male, female, and neutral toys; each child was then read a sex-role stereotypic or nonstereotypic picture book; another play session followed. Measures of visual regard and manipulation were applied to the observed play behavior of 32 preschool children to determine the significance of the findings.     

Methodology for a prospective study of suitability for psychoanalysis: the role of psychological tests.

A methodology for the use of psychological tests in the evaluation for suitability for psychoanalysis is described. Four variables--Reality Testing, Level and Quality of Object Relations, Affect Availability and Tolerance, and Motivation--were chosen for study and are discussed in detail. Data indicating a high degree of reliability between raters are presented.     

Effects of Control on the Stress Reactions of Commuters1

The effects of morning, rush hour commuting were examined in a quasi-experimental field study involving government-employed commuters (single and carpool drivers). Commuting stress was measured as a response to variations in how difficult it was for commuters to move from home to work. The mediation of these effects by two sources of control in the commuting situation also were assessed. Control was operationalized as control over the internal environment of the car (single versus carpool driver) and choice over routes taken to get to work. Among commuters with a high impedance route, driving to work was associated with significant increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and decreases in behavioral performance. The stress of commuting under high impedance conditions was reduced for single drivers relative to carpoolers. Under similar conditions of high impedance, however, having the option to select more than one route to get to work seemed to be more stressful than having only one route. The practical implications of these results are discussed.     

The perception of poverty and wealth among teenage university students

This study is concerned with the perception of poverty and wealth among teenage university students. Two hundred twenty students completed a questionnaire which probed their perceptions of the attributions and consequences of poverty and wealth, requested them to estimate the job prospects of a school leaver with and without a certificate qualification, and also requested that they estimate the income for both a specified "poor" and "rich" man. The students also provided information about their economic preferences, religious position, and family financial position. Results indicate that the sample emphasized the significance of the family and placed little weight on luck when dealing with poverty and wealth. The sample emphasized the economic consequences of poverty and wealth, and did not rate their psychological consequences as being of much importance. Certain groups within the sample showed some deviations in their perceptions. The most substantial group differences were between the capitalist-religious and socialist-religious groups.     

Simultaneous visual events show a long-range spatial interaction

A stimulus consisting of two brief flashes separated by a short interval appears to flicker, whereas a single brief flash does not. Performance on a task requiring discrimination of double and single stimuli is adversely affected by simultaneous presentation of a second, similar stimulus at a relatively remote position in the visual field. Most errors occur when target and mask follow different time courses, one double and the other single. The results of four experiments studying this interaction are reported. An effect on performance is observed under binocular, monocular, and dichoptic viewing conditions. Performance is affected up to target to mask distances of at least 20 deg of arc. Performance increases as target-to-mask onset asynchrony is increased, reaching asymptote at asynchronies of between 100 and 150 msec. The precise shape of the stimuli does not appear to be important in determining the size of the effect or whether or not an effect occurs. An analogy between this effect and apparent movement is suggested.