Neuroscience
We’re all going to die and there’s nothing we can do about it. Depressing? Well, it’s been argued that depressed people are the sane ones because they see the world for how it really is. Now consider this – a study has found people with eating disorders have an accurate perception of how attractive their bodies look to other people. In contrast, healthy controls are the ‘deluded’ ones – they think their bodies look far more attractive to other people than they really do.
Anita Jansen and colleagues took photos of 14 women with eating-disorder symptoms and of 12 healthy controls, all wearing underwear only. A panel of 24 men and 64 women then looked at the photos and, without knowing which women had eating disorder symptoms, rated the women’s bodies for attractiveness. The photos didn’t show the women’s faces.
Although the bodies of the women with eating disorder symptoms and the healthy controls did not differ on objective measures (such as body mass index and waist to hip ratio), the panel rated the bodies of the women with eating disorder symptoms as significantly less attractive than the control women’s bodies. This would have come as no surprise to the eating disorder women – their ratings of their own appearance closely matched the ratings they received from the panel.
But even though the healthy controls’ appearance was rated higher than the eating disorder women, they would have been upset – the appearance ratings they gave themselves were much higher than the ratings given to them by the panel. “This points to the existence of a self-serving body-image bias in the normal controls”, the researchers said. “Self-serving biases or positive illusions are prototypical for healthy people, they maintain mental health and help to protect from depression”.
So, what are the implications of this research for helping women with eating disorders? Lead researcher Anita Jansen told The Digest about research into a possible cognitive intervention: “We have started a training for people who are dissatisfied with their looks, to expose them to their own bodies and to teach them to focus on the (self-defined) beautiful parts of their bodies only and to describe them in very positive terms. Focusing at the beautiful parts instead of the ugly ones makes them happier and more satisfied with their bodies is our experience until now”.
__________________________________
Jansen, A., Smeets, T., Martijn, C. & Nederkoorn, C. (2006). I see what you see: The lack of a self-serving body-image bias in eating disorders. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45, 123-135.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Link to NICE guidelines for the treatment of eating disorders.
Link to discussion of this study, via Mind Hacks.
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Neuroscience
Body image - it's 'healthy' people who are deluded
We’re all going to die and there’s nothing we can do about it. Depressing? Well, it’s been argued that depressed people are the sane ones because they see the world for how it really is. Now consider this – a study has found people with eating disorders have an accurate perception of how attractive their bodies look to other people. In contrast, healthy controls are the ‘deluded’ ones – they think their bodies look far more attractive to other people than they really do.Anita Jansen and colleagues took photos of 14 women with eating-disorder symptoms and of 12 healthy controls, all wearing underwear only. A panel of 24 men and 64 women then looked at the photos and, without knowing which women had eating disorder symptoms, rated the women’s bodies for attractiveness. The photos didn’t show the women’s faces.
Although the bodies of the women with eating disorder symptoms and the healthy controls did not differ on objective measures (such as body mass index and waist to hip ratio), the panel rated the bodies of the women with eating disorder symptoms as significantly less attractive than the control women’s bodies. This would have come as no surprise to the eating disorder women – their ratings of their own appearance closely matched the ratings they received from the panel.
But even though the healthy controls’ appearance was rated higher than the eating disorder women, they would have been upset – the appearance ratings they gave themselves were much higher than the ratings given to them by the panel. “This points to the existence of a self-serving body-image bias in the normal controls”, the researchers said. “Self-serving biases or positive illusions are prototypical for healthy people, they maintain mental health and help to protect from depression”.
So, what are the implications of this research for helping women with eating disorders? Lead researcher Anita Jansen told The Digest about research into a possible cognitive intervention: “We have started a training for people who are dissatisfied with their looks, to expose them to their own bodies and to teach them to focus on the (self-defined) beautiful parts of their bodies only and to describe them in very positive terms. Focusing at the beautiful parts instead of the ugly ones makes them happier and more satisfied with their bodies is our experience until now”.
__________________________________
Jansen, A., Smeets, T., Martijn, C. & Nederkoorn, C. (2006). I see what you see: The lack of a self-serving body-image bias in eating disorders. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 45, 123-135.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Link to NICE guidelines for the treatment of eating disorders.
Link to discussion of this study, via Mind Hacks.
- "just Looking At A Cake Makes Me Feel Fatter"
Have you ever caught yourself staring at sumptuously-formed cake, only to come away with the guilty feeling that the mere act of looking has led you to put on weight? If so, you're not alone. Following research showing that people with eating disorders...
- Is Eating More Slowly The Key To Eating Less?
Barely a day goes by that we aren't reminded of the pending obesity crisis that is set to befall the Western World. Some experts have suggested that learning to eat more slowly might help us to eat less. Doing so leads to the subjective feeling that...
- Hungry Men Prefer Bigger Women
Men in rich, Western countries tend to prefer thinner women, whereas men in poorer South Pacific countries tend to prefer bigger women. It’s been argued that this is due to cultural and ethnic differences, but increasingly psychologists now believe...
- "i'm Not As Slim As That Girl"
Fig. 1 (Friederich et al., 2007). Subjective anxiety ratings in response to images of interior design and body shape images (n = 16 healthy women). 0 = not anxious at all, 10 = very anxious. [NOTE: different results may be obtained in avid fans of Martha...
- Active Minds - Meeting Today
Come to our meeting this week as we promote positive body image among college students by decorating sticky notes that will be used for our Eating Disorder Awareness Event. Thursday, October 20th at 7 pmThurgood Marshall Room, Stamp Friday 10/21 - Eating...