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Gender differences in colour naming performance for gender specific body shape images
N A Elliman1, M W Green, W K Wan
1Consumer Sciences Department, Institute of Food Research, Earley Gate, Whiteknights Road, Reading, Berks, RG6 6BZ, U.K.
Eating and Weight Disorders : EWD
|March 10, 2001
Summary
This study explored male body image concerns using a modified Stroop task. Dieting women showed differences in naming obese images, while men
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Body Image Research
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Societal pressures for aesthetic body stereotypes increasingly affect males.
- Limited research exists on the origins of male body shape concerns.
- Gender-specific body image concerns may influence cognitive processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between gender-specific body shape concerns and cognitive performance.
- To examine how body image concerns affect colour-naming in males and females.
- To explore the aetiology of male body shape concerns.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments utilized a between-subject design with a modified Stroop task.
- Participants (68 females, 56 males) colour-named gender-specific thin/obese body images and neutral images (birds).
- Self-report measures of eating behaviour were administered.
Main Results:
- Currently dieting female subjects showed significant colour-naming differences between obese and neutral images.
- A similar pattern in males related colour-naming performance to external eating behaviour.
- Cognitive performance on the Stroop task was influenced by body image concerns.
Conclusions:
- Body shape concerns are linked to cognitive processing, particularly in dieting females and males with external eating patterns.
- This research sheds light on the cognitive underpinnings of body image concerns in both genders.
- Further research is needed to fully understand the aetiology of male body image concerns.