I Am “Fatter” Than She Is: Language-Expressible Body-Size Comparisons Bias Judgments of Body Size

Abstract

This article proposes and tests a comparison-induced distortion theory account of body-size judgments wherein language-expressible body-size comparisons (e.g., “Jane is fatter than Kimberly” or “Kimberly is thinner than Jane”) bias judgments of body sizes. Study 1 found that when actual differences were small, language-expressible comparisons biased body-size judgments away from the sizes with which they were compared even though the distribution of contextual body sizes was held constant. Study 2 found that when actual differences were large language-expressible comparisons biased judgments toward the sizes with which they were compared so that an extremely thin woman was judged larger if she was compared with someone who was much larger than her than if she was compared with someone who was only slightly larger than her. These results demonstrate that research on body-size judgments cannot ignore the effects of language-expressible comparisons.

If John is taller than Jake, where is John? Spatial inference from magnitude comparison.

“…These results are consistent with a general framework in which the spatiotemporal structure of language can be tuned to match the structure of the physical world. The result is a communication system which exploits redundancy, allowing a single message to convey multiple types of information: A simple statement of ordinal magnitude carries implications about absolute size (e.g., Choplin, 2010) and, as found in the current studies, about the spatial arrangement of the compared items-and possibly about other things, too.…”

“…Clark, 2006;Goodhew, McGaw, & Kidd, 2014;Louwerse, 2011). Previous work has shown that the message-sender's choice of magnitude comparative is influenced by the absolute size of the items (Matthews & Dylman, 2014) and that this choice in turn affects inferences about the sizes of unseen objects (Choplin, 2010;Rusiecki, 1985). However, the information-transmission is imperfect.…”

The language of magnitude comparison.

“…From this perspective, the choice of adjective shapes the semantic information that is activated when forming a comparative judgment, with subsequent effects on people's best estimates of the target quantity. Similarly, Choplin (2010) has found that the choice of comparative adjective {fatter vs. thinner) can affect people's memory for women's body size.…”

The Impact of Personal Metaphors and Memorable Interpersonal Communication on Body Satisfaction

“…Body image refers to “a person’s perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about his or her body” (Grogan, 2008, p. 3). Body image deals with self-perceptions that develop, in part, as a result of comparing one’s body to others’ (Choplin, 2010). Body satisfaction is the degree to which one is content with one’s physical body (Ogden & Clementi, 2010).…”