The continual exposure of thin idealised body shapes has been perceived to modify women's judgments of what typical and ideal bodies in a social situation resemble. This idea has been related to a greater drive for thinness leading to body dissatisfaction, which has been recognised to result from an excessive preoccupation with weight and fear of weight gain. Such beliefs are considered risk factors for the development and maintenance of disordered eating and are associated with negative feelings, such as anger, body anxiety and depression. In this study I will assess how female students perceive themselves in terms of body image and how it impacts body dissatisfaction when exposed to a set of thin and round body shapes and faces.
Objectives
Body dissatisfaction in females has been rising recently and is commonly a stake for the development of an eating disorder. The main objective of this study will be to assess how the exposure of different sized body and face shapes have an effect on eating disorder traits and aesthetic judgements. This will be done by measuring the drive for thinness and whether a change in perception resulted from exposure to thin and round body shapes and faces in two conditions; low risk to an eating disorder and high risk to an eating disorder.
Scientific Background
During the twentieth century, various sources of media have transformed the ideal female body image from a full hourglass figure to a thin, tubular one (Lin & Kulik, 2002). Sequentially, an ever-increasing number of women are feeling they are under social pressure to be thin in order to be beautiful and attractive, leading to the development of a negative perception of themselves. Body dissatisfaction has been characterised as a distortion of perception, behaviour or cognition related to weight or shape (Posavac & Posavac, 2002) and has emerged as an indicator of a broad range of disordered eating and weight related outcomes.
Studies have positively demonstrated a correlation between unrealistic and digitally-enhanced images of females presented in the media and a drive for thinness (Posovac & Posovac, 2002). This can have an adverse repercussion on young females, as it can prompt disordered eating and the possible development and maintenance of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa (Baranowski, Jorga, Djordjevic, Marinkovic, & Hetherington, 2003).
In spite of the consequences of body perception, very few studies have focussed on the effects of adaption to thin and round body shapes. Specifically, Winkler and Rhodes (2005) analysed the effects of perceptual adaption on the aesthetic experience of the body. They found that after adaptation to thin bodies, the most attractive and most normal appearing bodies became thinner.
Glauert, Rhodes, Byrne, Fink & Grammer, 2009 established similar findings using real body pictures. They reported that a thinner normal and ideal body was associated with greater body dissatisfaction and internalisation of the thin western ideal. This was also related to a reduced effect of adaptation to round bodies. Such results demonstrate that a 'plastic change' in body can easily be induced by perceptual adaptation and the magnitude of this change is related to body concerns.
In light of these findings, it may be hypothesized that patients at high risk of an eating disorder may present altered sensitivity to perceptual exposure to extreme ideals of body size. In keeping with this hypothesis, a previous study by (Mele, Cazzato & Urgesi, 2013)
used a modified perceptual adaptation paradigm to compare the sensitivity to perceptual exposure in adolescents with an eating disorder and controls. They used the Eating Disorder Inventory to measure disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. However, rather than estimating the most attractive or normal body weight, as done in previous studies, this study measured separately how the aesthetic judgments of thin and round bodies were affected by repeated exposure to thin or round models. Crucially, the altered effects of perceptual adaptation to round bodies in those suffering from an eating disorder also extended to the perceptual and ideal dimensions of self-body image.
The present study will allow us to identify a specific relation between altered aesthetic sensitivity at individuals at risk of an eating disorder to the effects of perceptual exposure to round bodies and their body image concerns. It can be assumed that only exposure to round, but not thin, bodies changed the aesthetic appreciation of others' bodies as well as the perceptual body image in those individuals at high risk of an eating disorder. This could be explained by suggesting that the model body images used in the thin exposure condition may have been similar to those frequently shown by the media.
All things considered. the construct of body aesthetic ideals in individuals at high risk of an eating disorder is easily malleable and repeated exposure to round bodies may aggravate not only the alterations of the aesthetic appreciation of others' bodies, but also the perceptual distortions of self-body image.
Given its negative health outcomes and serious influence on today's society by manipulating the female ideal body image, it is important to investigate the extent to which aesthetic judgements play a role in the female psyche. Additionally, only a moderate amount of research focuses on whether the drive for thinness tends to dissipate over time, as adolescents transition into young adulthood with the majority of research focusing on Anorexia. This critical gap in knowledge, especially involving faces, will be addressed by measuring the effect body exposure has on eating disorder traits and on aesthetic judgments of bodies and faces in university students. The proposed study is especially interested covering the gap in knowledge in comprehending whether a change in an individual's perception abilities from changing an individuals' perception of bodies. Additionally, it will be relevant in assisting newly found participants at high risk of an eating disorder to seek clinical interventions.
Methods
Design
The proposed study will consist of a repeated measures design concerned with the three following within subject factors: (thin or round), time (pre or post) and model body size (thin or round). The analysis used will be a three-way repeated measures ANOVA measuring aesthetic judgments (dependent variable).
Participants
Participants will be recruited through SONA systems and will be students from Liverpool John Moores University. Thirty female individuals with a Body Mass Index above 18.5 and below 28, aged between 18-30 are required to participate in the experiment and come in on two separate days; fifteen will be females at high risk of an eating disorder and fifteen will be females at low risk of an eating disorder.
Measures
To begin, each participants Body Mass Index will be calculated and recorded at the beginning of day one in order to compare to their shape and body concerns, if any.
At the end of the second day, information will be collected using clinical scales such as the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-3) (Garner, 2004). This will take twenty minutes to complete and will consist of ninety-one items organised into twelve primary scales. It will produce a composite score which will provide information on whether an individual is likely to develop an eating disorder in the future. The scores obtained will be used to split participants and analyse the correlation between effects on the aesthetic judgements obtained after being exposed to round or slim bodies and faces respectively with eating disorder traits.
Manipulations
Exposure
Participants will be exposed to two different body types; thin and round pre and post aesthetic judgement tasks. They will be required to evaluate the stimuli presented and will then be exposed to another set and asked to re-evaluate.
Procedure
The experimental sessions will require participants to sit in front of a LCD monitor and will be exposed to eight extreme round body stimuli or eight extreme thin body stimuli. The four possible weight figures (i.e. extremely round, round, thin, extremely thin) were presented in the pre and post aesthetic judgement tasks. The stimuli appeared in three 48-trial blocks, with random presentation of male and female models, static and dynamic postures and front and three-quarter view body pictures, for a total of 144 stimuli. Each stimulus will be presented for 1000ms and followed by a response frame that will remain on the screen until response. Participants were required to evaluate the set of stimuli based of aesthetic judgements and will then be exposed to another set and asked to re-evaluate. This will measure their aesthetic judgements and see if they adapt to one type of body. It will be analysed whether there is a high or low change in relation to eating disorder development. Half of the participants will be exposed to thin bodies on day one and round bodies on day two and vice versa.
Ethical Issues
Each participant will be requested to sign a consent form which they will not only agree to take part, but it will inform them on what the research is about and what is involved. They will be informed with respect to their rights involving confidentiality and the right to withdraw at any given time before the end of the study as they will not be able to identified after. Individuals who have been clinically diagnosed with an eating disorder or are mentally ill will not be allowed to participate. This will ensure all participants will be physically and mentally protected. However, in the case a participant is feeling distressed, they will be encouraged to contact their GP or mental health provider. Once the study is over, each individual will be given a debrief sheet, thanking them for participating, informing them on the purpose of the study and how their data will be used. An application for ethical approval will be submitted to PSYREP and the study will commence only if and when approval is granted.