Cargando…

The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size

We investigated the relationships between healthy women’s estimates of their own body size, their body dissatisfaction, and how they subjectively judge the transition from normal to overweight in other women’s bodies (the “normal/overweight” boundary). We propose two complementary hypotheses. In the...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Cornelissen, Katri K., Brokjøb, Lise Gulli, Gumančík, Jiří, Lowdon, Ellis, McCarty, Kristofor, Irvine, Kamila R., Tovée, Martin J., Cornelissen, Piers Louis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9120952/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35602723
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.888904
_version_ 1784711048776908800
author Cornelissen, Katri K.
Brokjøb, Lise Gulli
Gumančík, Jiří
Lowdon, Ellis
McCarty, Kristofor
Irvine, Kamila R.
Tovée, Martin J.
Cornelissen, Piers Louis
author_facet Cornelissen, Katri K.
Brokjøb, Lise Gulli
Gumančík, Jiří
Lowdon, Ellis
McCarty, Kristofor
Irvine, Kamila R.
Tovée, Martin J.
Cornelissen, Piers Louis
author_sort Cornelissen, Katri K.
collection PubMed
description We investigated the relationships between healthy women’s estimates of their own body size, their body dissatisfaction, and how they subjectively judge the transition from normal to overweight in other women’s bodies (the “normal/overweight” boundary). We propose two complementary hypotheses. In the first, participants compare other women to an internalized Western “thin ideal,” whose size reflects the observer’s own body dissatisfaction. As dissatisfaction increases, so the size of their “thin ideal” reduces, predicting an inverse relationship between the “normal/overweight” boundary and participants’ body dissatisfaction. Alternatively, participants judge the size of other women relative to the body size they believe they have. For this implicit or explicit social comparison, the participant selects a “normal/overweight” boundary that minimizes the chance of her making an upward social comparison. So, the “normal/overweight” boundary matches or is larger than her own body size. In an online study of 129 healthy women, we found that both opposing factors explain where women place the “normal/overweight” boundary. Increasing body dissatisfaction leads to slimmer judgments for the position of the “normal/overweight” boundary in the body mass index (BMI) spectrum. Whereas, increasing overestimation by the observer of their own body size shifts the “normal/overweight” boundary toward higher BMIs.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9120952
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-91209522022-05-21 The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size Cornelissen, Katri K. Brokjøb, Lise Gulli Gumančík, Jiří Lowdon, Ellis McCarty, Kristofor Irvine, Kamila R. Tovée, Martin J. Cornelissen, Piers Louis Front Psychol Psychology We investigated the relationships between healthy women’s estimates of their own body size, their body dissatisfaction, and how they subjectively judge the transition from normal to overweight in other women’s bodies (the “normal/overweight” boundary). We propose two complementary hypotheses. In the first, participants compare other women to an internalized Western “thin ideal,” whose size reflects the observer’s own body dissatisfaction. As dissatisfaction increases, so the size of their “thin ideal” reduces, predicting an inverse relationship between the “normal/overweight” boundary and participants’ body dissatisfaction. Alternatively, participants judge the size of other women relative to the body size they believe they have. For this implicit or explicit social comparison, the participant selects a “normal/overweight” boundary that minimizes the chance of her making an upward social comparison. So, the “normal/overweight” boundary matches or is larger than her own body size. In an online study of 129 healthy women, we found that both opposing factors explain where women place the “normal/overweight” boundary. Increasing body dissatisfaction leads to slimmer judgments for the position of the “normal/overweight” boundary in the body mass index (BMI) spectrum. Whereas, increasing overestimation by the observer of their own body size shifts the “normal/overweight” boundary toward higher BMIs. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-05-06 /pmc/articles/PMC9120952/ /pubmed/35602723 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.888904 Text en Copyright © 2022 Cornelissen, Brokjøb, Gumančík, Lowdon, McCarty, Irvine, Tovée and Cornelissen. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Cornelissen, Katri K.
Brokjøb, Lise Gulli
Gumančík, Jiří
Lowdon, Ellis
McCarty, Kristofor
Irvine, Kamila R.
Tovée, Martin J.
Cornelissen, Piers Louis
The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size
title The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size
title_full The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size
title_fullStr The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size
title_full_unstemmed The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size
title_short The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size
title_sort effect of own body concerns on judgments of other women’s body size
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9120952/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35602723
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.888904
work_keys_str_mv AT cornelissenkatrik theeffectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT brokjøblisegulli theeffectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT gumancikjiri theeffectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT lowdonellis theeffectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT mccartykristofor theeffectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT irvinekamilar theeffectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT toveemartinj theeffectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT cornelissenpierslouis theeffectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT cornelissenkatrik effectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT brokjøblisegulli effectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT gumancikjiri effectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT lowdonellis effectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT mccartykristofor effectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT irvinekamilar effectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT toveemartinj effectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize
AT cornelissenpierslouis effectofownbodyconcernsonjudgmentsofotherwomensbodysize