Use Your Imagination: College Women's Responses to a Social-Evaluative Body Image Threat

Abstract

This study examined psychological and heart rate responses to an imagined social-evaluative body image threat in women (N = 97). Participants were randomly assigned to picture themselves trying on swimsuits in a store with a group of friends (social-evaluative threat) or alone (non-social-evaluative threat). Measures of state body image and heart rate recordings were completed prior to and following the scenario. A significant group-by-time interaction was found for state body image, F(2, 93) = 3.69, p = .03, with the highest body shame and social physique anxiety reported in the social-evaluative group. No differences were found for heart rate. The findings highlight the usefulness of imagined scenarios when examining psychological responses and the challenges of capturing changes in physiological outcomes.