Preconscious Processing of Body Image Cues Impact on Body Percept and Concept Glenn Wallera, *, Juliette Barnesb

Journal of Psychosomatic Research 53 (2002) 1037 – 1041

Preconscious processing of body image cues Impact on body percept and concept
Glenn Wallera,*, Juliette Barnesb a Department of Psychiatry, St. George’s Hospital Medical School, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, UK b Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK

Abstract Objective: There is considerable evidence that body image is an elastic construct, which can be influenced by environmental and internal factors. The present study used a visual subliminal processing paradigm, with the aim of determining the impact of preconscious processing of verbal cues upon body image (percept and concept). Method: Forty nonclinical women completed measures of body percept and concept before and after being exposed to very rapid presentations (4 ms) of fatness and thinness
Keywords: Body image; Body percept; Body concept; Subliminal processing

cues. Results: The women with relatively unhealthy eating attitudes were influenced by the fatness stimulus, with a worsening of their body percept and concept. In contrast, the women with healthier eating attitudes showed an improvement in their body percept in response to the thinness stimulus. Conclusion: The findings support the centrality of body image schemata in eating psychopathology, although there is a need for replication and extension in other groups. D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction Body image has been conceptualized in a number of ways [1]. At a broad level, however, it has two components [2]. Body percept is the internal visual image of body shape and size, while body concept refers to the level of satisfaction with one’s body. Although disturbances of body percept are common in women with eating disorders, it is also the case that nonclinical women overestimate their body size [1], especially where they have particular functional reasons to focus on body shape and

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