Body image distortions in healthy adults

Distortions of body image have often been investigated in clinical disorders. Much of this literature implicitly assumes healthy adults maintain an accurate body image. We recently developed a novel, implicit, and quantitative measure of body image — the Body Image Task (BIT). Here, we report a large-scale analysis of performance on this task by healthy adults. In both an in-person and an online version of the BIT, participants were presented with an image of a head as an anchoring stimulus on a computer screen, and told to imagine that the head was part of a mirror image of themselves in a standing position. They were then instructed to judge where, relative to the head, each of several parts of their body would be located. The relative positions of each landmark can be used to construct an implicit perceptual map of bodily structure. We could thus measure the internally-stored body image, although we cannot exclude contributions from other representations. Our results show several distortions of body image. First, we found a large and systematic over-estimation of width relative to height. These distortions were similar for both males and females, and did not closely track the idiosyncrasies of individual participant's own bodies. Comparisons of individual body parts showed that participants overestimated the width of their shoulders and the length of their upper arms, relative to their height, while underestimating the lengths of their lower arms and legs. Principal components analysis showed a clear spatial structure to the distortions, suggesting spatial organisation and segmentation of the body image into upper and lower limb components that are bilaterally integrated. These results provide new insight into the body image of healthy adults, and have implications for the study and rehabilitation of clinical populations.     

Seeing,mirroring, desiring: The impact of the analyst’s pregnant body on the patient’s body image

The paper explores the impact of the analyst’s pregnant body on the course of two analyses, a young man, and a young woman, specifically focusing on how each patient’s visual perception and affective experience of being with the analyst’s pregnant body affected their own body image and subjective experience of their body. The pre‐verbal or ‘subsymbolic’ material evoked in the analyses contributed to a greater understanding of the patients’ developmental experiences in infancy and adolescence, which had resulted in both carrying a profoundly distorted body image into adulthood. The analyst’s pregnancy offered a therapeutic window in which a shift in the patient’s body image could be initiated. Clinical material is presented in detail with reference to the psychoanalytic literature on the pregnant analyst, and that of the development of the body image, particularly focusing on the role of visual communication and the face. The author proposes a theory of psychic change, drawing on Bucci’s multiple code theory, in which the patients’ unconscious or ‘subsymbolic’ awareness of her pregnancy, which were manifest in their bodily responses, feeling states and dreams, as well as in the analyst s countertransference, could gradually be verbalized and understood within the transference. Thus visual perception, or ‘external seeing’, could gradually become ‘internal seeing’, or insight into unconscious phantasies, leading to a shift in the patients internal object world towards a less persecutory state and more realistic appraisal of their body image.     

A Brief Delay Decreases Perceived Similarity and Improves Discrimination

A same-different discrimination between the colors of 2 halves of a circle was poorer when the halves were viewed simultaneously than when the delay between viewing them was 33 ms. The simultaneous discrimination also produced a poor performance on different stimuli relative to same stimuli in comparison to the successive discrimination. Poor-on-different performance should indicate high perceived similarity. The simultaneous colors were also judged as more similar. The delay did not alter the physical similarity of the colors. Thus, the delay may have decreased assimilation (perceived similarity) and thereby improved discrimination, in support of the hypothesis that perceived similarity frequently affects discrimination.     

Balancing Our Perceptions of the Efficacy of Success-Based Feedback Manipulations on Motor Learning

ABSTRACT. We report two experiments evaluating the impact of success-related feedback on learning of a balance task. In Exp. 1, we studied the influence of lax and conservative outcome feedback, as well as large vs. small improvements in outcome feedback on balance learning. Despite impacts on competency, there were no between-group differences in actual performance or learning. Because no comparative information was provided in Exp. 1, we tested four further groups that either did or did not receive positive or negative comparative feedback (Exp. 2). Although the manipulations influenced competency and arousal, again, there was no impact on balance outcomes. These data cast doubt on the assertions made in the OPTIMAL theory that perceptions of success are moderators of motor learning.     

Disordered Eating Attitudes and Self-Objectification Among Physically Active and Sedentary Female College Students

The authors' purpose in this study was to examine objectification theory (B. L. Fredrickson & T. A. Roberts, 1997) among physically active (n = 115) and sedentary (n = 70) women. The women completed the Self-Objectification Questionnaire (Noll & Fredrickson, 1998), the Body Surveillance and Body Shame subscales of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (McKinley & Hyde, 1996), the Appearance Anxiety Scale (Dion, Dion, & J. Keelan, 1990), a flow experiences measure (Tiggemann & Slater, 2001), and the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (Garner, Olmsted, Bohr, & Garfinkel, 1982). Self-objectification directly and indirectly (via body shame and appearance anxiety) predicted disordered eating in both groups of women. Physically active women reported more frequent flow experiences than sedentary women. Women high in self-objectification reported higher levels of body surveillance, body shame, appearance anxiety, and self-reported disordered eating attitudes. Body surveillance was related to disordered eating only among women with high self-objectification. Appearance anxiety was negatively associated with flow experiences among sedentary women. Objectification theory provides a useful framework for understanding factors related to disordered eating attitudes among active and sedentary college women.     

Responses to the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks: Experience of an Indirect Traumatic Event and Its Relationship With Perceived Benefits

Little is known about how people might benefit from an indirectly experienced traumatic event. The authors examined the relationship between perception of benefit and trauma symptoms in response to a relatively severe, but indirectly experienced, traumatic event. The authors sampled from 2 colleges located in the southeastern United States (N = 136). Individuals responded to questionnaires that assessed perceived benefits and trauma symptoms 1-2 weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and again approximately 10 weeks later. Participants did perceive benefits from witnessing this event, although their perception of benefit declined over time. Level of trauma symptoms correlated positively with perception of benefit, and experiencing a previous trauma also correlated positively with perceived benefits. Additional analysis indicated that level of trauma symptoms mediated the relationship between previous trauma and perception of benefit. These findings help to elucidate understanding of the development of perceived benefits in response to indirectly experienced events.     

Bulimic Symptoms and Body Image Dissatisfaction in College Women: More Affected by Climate or Race?

The authors examined bulimic symptoms and body image dissatisfaction (BID) in a sample of college women. No differences were found in comparisons of bulimic symptoms or BID between Southern and Northern White women, and both groups reported similar levels of awareness and internalization of sociocultural aesthetic standards of appearance. Southeastern Black women reported (a) significantly lower levels of bulimic symptoms in comparison with White women from the North and (b) lower levels of BID in comparison with White women from both Southern and Northern regions. Further, Southeastern Black women were significantly less likely to be aware of and endorse mainstream standards of appearance in comparison with both groups of White women. Findings support the hypothesis that having a positive body image and less susceptibility to mainstream aesthetic standards of appearance may reduce the risk of eating disorder pathology in Black women.     

Studies of Abnormal Behavior in the Rat: XVII. Guidance Versus Trial and Error in the Alteration of Habits and Fixations

Formation of a God concept, in accordance with the developmental hypothesis of object relations theory, includes the utilization of representations acquired within the context of significant relationships. Previous researchers have attempted to determine the comparative extent to which parent representations give rise to an individual's God image. In this study, we measured the similarities between subjects' composite parental ratings and their image of God. As predicted, the parental composite was significantly closer to the God rating than were the singular parent representations.     

Social problem‐solving,perceived stress,depression and life‐satisfaction in patients suffering from tension type and migraine headaches

This study aimed at investigating social problem solving, perceived stress, depression, and life‐satisfaction in patients with tension type and migraine headaches. Forty‐nine migraine and 42 tension type headache patients (n = 91) consenting to participate were compared to a total of 49 matched healthy control group. Participants filled in a questionnaire consisting self‐report measures of problem solving, perceived stress, depression and life satisfaction. They were also asked about headache duration, frequency, pain severity, psychiatric treatment and sense of control in one's life. T‐tests, chi‐square, analysis of variance, logistic regression analysis and Pearson product moment correlation coefficient procedures were used to analyze the data. Tension type headache patients reported having had more frequent headaches than the migraine patients but migraine patients reported having had more intense pain than the tension type headache patients. Instances of psychiatric treatment were more common among tension type headache patients than the migraine and the control group. Compared to the healthy controls, headache patients displayed a deficiency in problem solving, higher levels of perceived stress and depression. Levels of problem solving skills in headache patients were related inversely to depression, perceived stress and the number of negative life events but problem solving skills of headache patients was related positively to life‐satisfaction. The findings from this study suggested that cognitive behavioral problem solving therapy or training might be a viable option for reducing levels of stress and depression, and to increase life‐satisfaction in patients suffering from primary headache.     

意象思维与躯体化症状：疾病表达的文化心理学途径

意象思维是中国人的传统思维模式, 它通过观物取象和取象比类的方式认知世界、推演联系。这种思维模式塑造了中国人特有的身心不分而非两分的身体观、疾病观和治疗观。在中国人的观念中, 身体不仅仅是一具生理躯体, 还具有气、阴阳、五行等本土概念所体现的弥合物质与精神、联结生理与心理的模糊性与开放性。人们在表达疾病感觉时通常不分生理与心理, 任何一方面出现不适感觉即可认为自己生病, 在面对心理医生时也倾向于同时报告躯体状况与心理感觉, 从而使得临床报告出现较高的躯体化报告率。这正是文化心理影响疾病表达的体现。这也使得疾病不仅是一种医学现象, 也是一种文化现象; 医学不仅需要生理知识, 也需要人文知识。