The effects of physique-salient and physique non-salient exercise videos on women's body image, self-presentational concerns, and exercise motivation

This experiment examined the effects of exposure to physique-salient (PS) and physique non-salient (PNS) exercise videos and the moderating influence of perceived physique discrepancies, on body image, self-presentational concerns, and exercise motivation. Eighty inactive women (M age = 26) exercised to a 30 min instructional exercise video. In the PS condition, the video instructor wore revealing attire that emphasized her thin and toned physique. In the PNS condition, she wore attire that concealed her physique. Participants completed pre- and post-exercise measures of body image, social physique anxiety (SPA) and self-presentational efficacy (SPE) and a post-exercise measure of exercise motivation and perceived discrepancies with the instructor's body. No main or moderated effects emerged for video condition. However, greater perceived negative discrepancies were associated with poorer post-exercise body satisfaction and body evaluations, and higher state SPA. There were no effects on SPE or motivation. Results suggest that exercise videos that elicit perceived negative discrepancies can be detrimental to women's body images.     

Exclusion failure does not demonstrate unconscious perception

Elevations in exclusion error rates (i.e., responding with the target stimulus despite instructions to the contrary) in experiments with masked, briefly presented stimuli have been attributed to unconscious perception. The present studies tested the validity of exclusion methods for studying unconscious perception. Experiment 1 replicated Merikle, Joordens, and Stolz (1995; Experiment 1) by showing more exclusion errors (exclusion failure) for masked word stimuli in a stem completion task. However, this experiment did not replicate the finding of fewer exclusion errors (exclusion success) at long stimulus durations. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that exclusion errors are accompanied by significant discrimination sensitivity to the target stimulus, which suggests conscious perception of the target stimulus. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated that the exclusion errors obtained from stem completion tasks depend in part on the exclusion method. Altogether, elevated exclusion failure does not provide an unambiguous demonstration of unconscious perception.     

Is body checking in the eating disorders more closely related to diagnosis or to symptom presentation?

Body checking behaviours and cognitions are seen as underlying the core pathology of eating disorders-the over-evaluation of eating, shape and weight. While it has been demonstrated that levels of behaviours and cognitions differentiate eating-disordered women from non-eating-disordered women, little is known with regard to how these findings relate to diagnostic group. This study aimed to determine whether body checking cognitions and behaviours are best understood with regard to diagnostic category or symptom presentation. Eighty-four eating-disordered women (with diagnoses of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder or other Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified) completed measures of body checking behaviours and cognitions and eating psychopathology. Results showed that different aspects of body checking were more closely associated with diagnosis and with symptom presentation. Anorexia nervosa and binge-eating-disorder patients had particularly low levels of body checking behaviours and some related cognitions. However, the belief that body checking allows one to be accurate in knowing one's weight was associated with binging and vomiting behaviours, rather than diagnosis. Future directions for research include understanding the links between body checking phenomena and neurological features. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Perfectionism and Eating Attitudes In Competitive Rowers: Moderating Effects of Body Mass,Weight Classification and Gender

Abstract

One purpose of the present research was to determine the relationship between perfectionism and eating attitudes among national level rowers. A second purpose was to determine if body mass, weight classification and gender moderate perfectionism-eating attitude relations. Rowers from New Zealand and Australia (W=449) completed the Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale (PANPS; Terry-Short, Owens, Slade and Dewey, 1995), the Eating Attitude Test-40 (EAT-40; Garner and Garfinkel, 1979), and the Short Form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS; Reynolds, 1982). In addition, a Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated from the height and weight measurements of each participant. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that, after accounting for social desirability effects. Negative (unhealthy) Perfectionism scores were positively related to disturbed eating attitude scores, whereas Positive (healthy) Perfectionism scores were unrelated to disturbed eating attitude scores. In addition, body mass, weight classification and gender operated in a conjunctive fashion to produce a maximum moderator effect. That is, relations between Negative Perfectionism and disturbed eating attitudes were strongest for female lightweight rowers with higher BMI scores. Recommendations for future research are discussed.     

Transcoding abilities in typical and atypical mathematics achievers: The role of working memory and procedural and lexical competencies

Transcoding between numerical systems is one of the most basic abilities acquired by children during their early school years. One important topic that requires further exploration is how mathematics proficiency can affect number transcoding. The aim of the current study was to investigate transcoding abilities (i.e., reading Arabic numerals and writing dictation) in Brazilian children with and without mathematics difficulties, focusing on different school grades. We observed that children with learning difficulties in mathematics demonstrated lower achievement in number transcoding in both early and middle elementary school. In early elementary school, difficulties were observed in both the basic numerical lexicon and the management of numerical syntax. In middle elementary school, difficulties appeared mainly in the transcoding of more complex numbers. An error analysis revealed that the children with mathematics difficulties struggled mainly with the acquisition of transcoding rules. Although we confirmed the previous evidence on the impact of working memory capacity on number transcoding, we found that it did not fully account for the observed group differences. The results are discussed in the context of a maturational lag in number transcoding ability in children with mathematics difficulties.     

A comparison of signal detection theory to the objective threshold/strategic model of unconscious perception

A key problem in unconscious perception research is ruling out the possibility that weak conscious awareness of stimuli might explain the results. In the present study, signal detection theory was compared with the objective threshold/strategic model as explanations of results for detection and identification sensitivity in a commonly used unconscious perception task. In the task, 64 undergraduate participants detected and identified one of four briefly displayed, visually masked letters. Identification was significantly above baseline (i.e., proportion correct > .25) at the highest detection confidence rating. This result is most consistent with signal detection theory's continuum of sensory states and serves as a possible index of conscious perception. However, there was limited support for the other model in the form of a predicted "looker's inhibition" effect, which produced identification performance that was significantly below baseline. One additional result, an interaction between the target stimulus and type of mask, raised concerns for the generality of unconscious perception effects.     

Happiness as a motivator: positive affect predicts primary control striving for career and educational goals

What motivates individuals to invest time and effort and overcome obstacles (i.e., strive for primary control) when pursuing important goals? We propose that positive affect predicts primary control striving for career and educational goals, and we explore the mediating role of control beliefs. In Study 1, positive affect predicted primary control striving for career goals in a two-wave longitudinal study of a U.S. sample. In Study 2, positive affect predicted primary control striving for career and educational goals and objective career outcomes in a six-wave longitudinal study of a German sample. Control beliefs partially mediated the longitudinal associations with primary control striving. Thus, when individuals experience positive affect, they become more motivated to invest time and effort, and overcome obstacles when pursuing their goals, in part because they believe they have more control over attaining their goals.