SOCIOCULTURAL, FEMINIST, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON WOMEN'S BODY SATISFACTION: A STRUCTURAL MODELING ANALYSIS

We explored sociocultural, feminist, and psychological influences on women's body dissatisfaction by examining the manner in which awareness and internalization of appearance standards, feminist ideology, and self-esteem affect body dissatisfaction. A main goal of the study was to test a model of potential protective mechanisms against internalization of appearance standards. The LISREL 8.5 program was used to perform structural modeling analyses on the proposed theoretical models. The results supported previous findings regarding the influential role of sociocultural variables on women's body dissatisfaction. In particular, internalization was found to mediate the relationship between awareness and body dissatisfaction. Feminist ideology and self-esteem were not found to serve as protective mechanisms against internalization. However, self-esteem appeared to directly affect body dissatisfaction.     

Attention and memory biases toward body-related images among restrained eaters

This study examined biases in attention and memory toward body-related images among restrained (n = 31) and unrestrained (n = 29) eaters. Attentional allocation to images of thin and overweight bodies during a visual search task was measured by tracking participants’ eyegaze. This task was followed by a recognition test assessing participants’ memory for those images. Restrained and unrestrained eaters allocated more attention to body-related images than to control images, but there was no difference in attentional allocation between the two groups. Restrained eaters showed better recognition of body-related images that they had previously seen during the visual search task. Finally, increased attention was associated with better recognition of body-related images for both restrained and unrestrained eaters, but restrained eaters had better overall recognition regardless of the level of attention. These findings suggest that restrained eaters may have more organized strategies for processing body-related information than do unrestrained eaters.     

How does encoding context affect memory in younger and older adults?

How does encoding context affect memory? Participants studied visually presented words viewed concurrently with a rich (intact face) or weak (scrambled face) image as context and subsequently made "Remember", "Know", or "New" judgements to words presented alone. In Experiment 1a, younger, but not older, adults showed higher recollection accuracy to words from rich- than from weak-context encoding trials. The age-related deficit in recollection occurred, in Experiment 1b, even when encoding and retrieval time was doubled in older adults, suggesting that insufficient processing time cannot account for this age-related deficit. In Experiment 1c, dividing attention in young, during encoding, reduced overall memory, though the recollection boost from rich encoding contexts remained, suggesting that reduced attention resources cannot explain this age-related deficit. Experiment 2 showed that an own-age bias, to face images as context, could not explain the age-related differences either. Results suggest that age deficits in recollection stem from a lack of spontaneous binding, or elaboration, of context to target information during encoding.     

A New Measure of the Maladaptive Self-Beliefs in Social Anxiety: Psychometric Properties in a Non-Clinical Sample

Clark and Wells’ (1995) model of social phobia proposes that there are three types of maladaptive self-beliefs responsible for persistent social anxiety (high standard, conditional, and unconditional beliefs). Although these beliefs are theoretically important, there currently is not a validated measure of these beliefs in the social anxiety literature. Hence, the Self-Beliefs Related to Social Anxiety (SBSA) Scale was developed (Wong & Moulds, 2010a) and its psychometric properties were examined in the current study using a non-clinical sample (N = 600). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses ultimately indicated that a correlated three-factor solution optimally summarized the data with the three factors corresponding to the three belief types. The SBSA and its three subscales demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as convergent and divergent validity. The SBSA thus appears to have good psychometric properties and is appropriate for use in non-clinical samples. The potential applications of the SBSA and avenues for future research are discussed.     

Erratum to: A New Measure of the Maladaptive Self-Beliefs in Social Anxiety: Psychometric Properties in a Non-Clinical Sample

Clark and Wells’ (1995) model of social phobia proposes that there are three types of maladaptive self-beliefs responsible for persistent social anxiety (high standard, conditional, and unconditional beliefs). Although these beliefs are theoretically important, there currently is not a validated measure of these beliefs in the social anxiety literature. Hence, the Self-Beliefs Related to Social Anxiety (SBSA) Scale was developed (Wong and Moulds 2009) and its psychometric properties were examined in the current study using a non-clinical sample (N = 600). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses ultimately indicated that a correlated three-factor solution optimally summarized the data with the three factors corresponding to the three belief types. The SBSA and its three subscales demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as convergent and divergent validity. The SBSA thus appears to have good psychometric properties and is appropriate for use in non-clinical samples. The potential applications of the SBSA and avenues for future research are discussed.     

Social exchange styles: Measurement,validation, and application

Drawing on evolutionary psychology, social exchange styles were conceptualized in terms of two dimensions of individual differences in approaching exchange relationships: Benefit‐seeking and cost‐vigilance. In Study 1, a principal components analysis of the Social Exchange Styles Questionnaire (SESQ) in 156 undergraduates confirmed the presence of two dimensions that were very similar to the expected dimensions: Equitable alliance building (EAB) and vigilant alliance management (VAM). The SESQ scales showed good internal consistency and construct validity. Multiple regressions confirmed that social exchange styles were distinct from other personality variables. In Study 2, multilevel modelling conducted on 45 small work groups demonstrated that EAB positively predicted members' subjective performance, while VAM positively predicted objective performance. Theoretical questions and future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.