Use of a real-life practical context changes the relationship between implicit body representations and real body measurements

Abstract

A mismatch exists between people’s mental representations of their own body and their real body measurements, which may impact general well-being and health. We investigated whether this mismatch is reduced when contextualizing body size estimation in a real-life scenario. Using a reverse correlation paradigm, we constructed unbiased, data-driven visual depictions of participants’ implicit body representations. Across three conditions—own abstract, ideal, and own concrete body—participants selected the body that looked most like their own, like the body they would like to have, or like the body they would use for online shopping. In the own concrete condition only, we found a significant correlation between perceived and real hip width, suggesting that the perceived/real body match only exists when body size estimation takes place in a practical context, although the negative correlation indicated inaccurate estimation. Further, participants who underestimated their body size or who had more negative attitudes towards their body weight showed a positive correlation between perceived and real body size in the own abstract condition. Finally, our results indicated that different body areas were implicated in the different conditions. These findings suggest that implicit body representations depend on situational and individual differences, which has clinical and practical implications.

Social Comparison and Body Image in Teenage Users of the TikTok App

“…The answer fell on three levels: "yes," "sometimes," and "no". It evaluated "yes" with three degrees, "sometimes" with two degrees, and "no" with one degree, in the positive expressions (1,2,7,10,11,16,22,24,25,27). The scores were reversed in the negative expressions (3,4,5,6,8,9,12,13,14,15,17,18,19,20,21,23,26).…”

“…Body image denotes the cognitive attitudes and evaluations perceived by individuals about themselves, and relates to physical appearance including body size and shape [ 6 ]. Teenagers have the concept of an ideal body image and they interact with the social environment in the form of social comparisons with other people [ 7 ].…”