Implicit Measures of Actual Versus Ideal Body Image: Relations with Self-Reported Body Dissatisfaction and Dieting Behaviors

Klaske A Glashouwer,Peter J De Jong,Adriaan Spruyt,Elise C Bennik

doi:10.1007/s10608-018-9917-6

Klaske A Glashouwer, Peter J De Jong + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-018-9917-6

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Abstract

Body dissatisfaction refers to a negative appreciation of one’s own body stemming from a discrepancy between how one perceives his/her body (actual body image) and how he/she wants it to be (ideal body image). To circumvent the limitations of self-report measures of body image, measures were developed that allow for a distinction between actual and ideal body image at the implicit level. The first goal of the present study was to investigate whether self-reported body dissatisfaction is related to implicit measures of actual and ideal body image as captured by the Relational Responding Task (RRT). Secondly, we examined whether these RRT measures were related to several indices of dieting behavior. Women high in body dissatisfaction (n = 30) were characterized by relatively strong implicit I-am-fat beliefs, whereas their implicit I-want-to-be-thinner beliefs were similar to individuals low in body dissatisfaction (n = 37). Implicit body image beliefs showed no added value over explicit body image beliefs in predicting body dissatisfaction and dieting behavior. These findings support the idea that the interplay between ideal and actual body image drives (self-reported) body dissatisfaction. However, strong support for the view that it would be critical to differentiate between explicit and implicit body image beliefs is missing.

Highlights

Body image attitudes are assumed to play a central role in organizing thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and evaluations related to one’s body (Cash 2002, 2011)
Based on the findings reported by Heider et al (2015, 2018), we hypothesized that (i) higher levels of self-reported body dissatisfaction are associated with higher levels of implicit I-am-fat beliefs and higher levels of implicit I-want-to-be-thinner beliefs, (ii) implicit actual and ideal body image measures do not predict self-reported body dissatisfaction over and above explicit measures of actual and ideal body image, and (iii) the relation between self-reported body dissatisfaction and implicit I-want-to-be-thinner beliefs is most pronounced in individuals who are characterized by relatively strong implicit I-amfat beliefs (Heider et al 2018)
To investigate whether the Relational Responding Task (RRT) scores were dependent upon the degree of self-reported body dissatisfaction, a 2 × 2 (RRT: actual vs. ideal) ANOVA was conducted with body dissatisfaction as between-subject factor and RRT type as withinsubject factor

Summary

Introduction

Body image attitudes are assumed to play a central role in organizing thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and evaluations related to one’s body (Cash 2002, 2011). In several studies it was already examined to what extent people associate the attributes thin and fat with either a positive or negative valence (e.g., Ahern et al 2008; Ahern and Hetherington 2006; Vartanian et al 2005). These prior implicit measurement procedures are limited by an inability to capture relational information. Two “relational” implicit measures have been developed which aim to capture how concepts are related at the implicit level: The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP; Barnes-Holmes et al 2006) and the Relational Responding Task (RRT; De Houwer et al 2015)

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