Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

0:00
0:00

Women's own body dissatisfaction appears to influence their judgment of other women's body sizes

New research provides evidence that how women judge the transition from normal to overweight in other women’s bodies is related to perceptions of their own body size and their body dissatisfaction. The findings have been published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
“There are laboratory studies showing that one’s assessment of other people’s body sizes can be modified by re-training, which is relevant to eating disorders,” said lead researcher Katri Cornelissen, a senior lecturer at Northumbria University, Newcastle.

“This opened a wider question with what is the relationship between attitudes of your own body, the size you perceive your own body is and the size you perceive others’ bodies are. Particularly whether it is the case that if you have a tendency to overestimate your own body size, is there also tendency to overestimate others body size and is this linked also to body dissatisfaction.”

In the new study, 129 women from provided demographic information along with their height and weight (which was used to calculate their BMI) before completing measures of eating disorder symptoms, body dissatisfaction, depression, and self-esteem.

The participants were then shown a series of photorealistic computer-generated images of a female body that varied in BMI from 12.5 (underweight) to 44.5 (obese). They were asked to “Find the best match to your own body size/shape” and to “Find where the woman just changes from normal size to overweight, in your opinion.” All participants completed both rating tasks, but the order of the tasks was randomized. They also completed a distractor task between the two rating sessions “to minimize any carry over between the two kinds of body size judgment.”

The researchers found that the participants’ actual body size (their calculated BMI) was unrelated to their judgments of the position of the “normal/overweight” boundary. But the size participants perceived themselves to be was related to their judgments of the “normal/overweight” boundary.

The findings demonstration that “misperception of own and others body size is not restricted to people with eating disorders and is common to everyone,” Cornelissen told PsyPost.

The researchers found that women with higher levels of body dissatisfaction tended to indicate that the “normal/overweight” boundary was at a lower BMI compared to women with less body dissatisfaction. Women who overestimated their own body size, on the other hand, tended to indicate that the “normal/overweight” boundary was at a higher BMI.

“There are two competing influences that effect your judgement of somebody else’s body size,” Cornelissen explained. “The first is that more emotional distress you feel about your own body, the smaller somebody in body size has to be for you to describe them overweight. Secondly, the more you overestimate your own body size, the higher the body size of somebody else has to be for you to describe them as overweight.”

“In other words, there are two opposing influences that we can identify (perceptual factor and the attitudes and feelings you have about your own body) that are impacting on the point someone else is perceived as overweight.”

Future research could investigate whether the findings extend to other cultures and to non-adults. The participants were recruited from the United Kingdom, Poland, Norway, and the Czech Republic, and they ranged in age from 18 to 53. “There are obvious caveats: the extent to which the same phenomena is same or different in children and whether the same phenomena holds across non-western cultures,” Cornelissen said.

“Extensive research has shown that perceptions and attitudes you have about your own body are strongly influenced by a) the extent to which you internalize the cultural information about ideal body shape and size, and b) the extent to which you compare yourself to your peers. It is highly likely that both of these influences play important part in the effects identified in the current study, and will need to be explicitly measured in the future.”

Despite the caveats, “the findings are of clinical importance,” Cornelissen explained. “In people with eating disorders, untreated body dissatisfaction (the difference between the size you are the size you think you are) is a risk factor for relapse. Therefore, the current study may help to establish the rationale for novel additional treatments to alleviate body image dissatisfaction over and above treatments as usual.”

The study, “The Effect of Own Body Concerns on Judgments of Other Women’s Body Size“, was authored by Katri K. Cornelissen, Lise Gulli Brokjøb, Jiří Gumančík, Ellis Lowdon, Kristofor McCarty, Kamila R. Irvine, Martin J. Tovée, and Piers Louis Cornelissen.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Trump Administration Seeks to Repurpose $4.9 Billion in Foreign Aid
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz: “The Current Welfare State Can No Longer Be Financed”
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
Wizz Air passengers screamed as storm-battered flight diverts to Bologna
European postal services halt U.S. deliveries after Trump imposes new tariffs
Urban explorer finds abandoned luxury restaurant left to decay
Fidesz leader labels Péter Magyar a ‘bluffer’ amid escalating political spat
French rope park operator arrested for denying entry to Israeli children
Újpest thrashes Zalaegerszeg 4-1 to secure first win in five matches
Profit-margin cap costs retailers 13 billion forints a month, warns trade group
Curiosity rover finds coral-like rock on Mars hinting at watery past
U.S. green policy rollback drives investors to Europe’s sustainable finance market
Special funerals rise in Hungary: boat, aerial and forest burials gain popularity
Hungary’s Kiskunság region turning into semi-desert after extreme drought
Kopasz Bálint wins world kayak 1000 m title in Milan, making him triple world champion
Budapest’s Keleti railway station to close for four weeks for track overhaul
Balaton could be unfit for swimming by 2035 and dry by 2050, scientists warn
Leaked guidelines show Meta’s AI allowed flirty and racist interactions with children
Filming of ‘Emily in Paris’ halted after assistant director dies on set
Filipino guest workers sue after Hungary moves to deport them for pregnancy
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
A monster hit and a billion-dollar toy empire
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
×