A negative body image is related to a number of negative health consequences, including eating disorders. In three experiments, the researchers trained 370 women to direct attention to different body sizes and tested whether the attention training influenced how women perceived and felt about their bodies. Women who completed the training in a laboratory increased their attention to larger bodies. However, this increase in attention did not change how women perceived and felt about their bodies. The training was generally ineffective at modifying attention when completed online. These results suggest our attention training task was ineffective at modifying body image in women.
The effect of attention on body size adaptation and body dissatisfaction
1 March 2022
Researchers including Thea House, Dr Ian D Stephen, Prof. Ian Penton-Voak, and Dr Kevin R. Brooks have published a paper entitled 'The effect of attention on body size adaptation and body dissatisfaction'.
Further information
Further information
The research paper can be accessed here:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211718
‘The effect of attention on body size adaption and body dissatisfaction' by Thea House Dr Ian D Stephen, Prof. Ian Penton-Voak, and Dr Kevin R. Brooks.