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Validation of a Psychosocial Intervention on Body Image in Older People: An Experimental Design
Published on: May 31, 2021
Differential processing of self-referenced versus other-referenced body information among American and Chinese young
1School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, PR China.
Abstract:
Two experiments assessed the impact of self-referenced and other-referenced primes on processing of body-related information in samples of young adults from the United States and China. In Experiment 1, 46 American university students (41 females, 5 males) comprising groups higher and lower in body weight concerns engaged in a computer-based experiment wherein subliminal self-relevant (I) and other-related (He) primes were followed by positive and negative body words to be correctly classified as such. Relative to control group participants, those high in weight concerns had slower response latencies when classifying words presented with an I prime, especially positive I-primed words, compared to He-primed body words. This pattern was not observed for control words. In a second experiment comprised of 48 Chinese university students (45 females, 3 males), respondents high in weight concerns were again slower responding to I-primed body words relative to He-primed body words and control group participants. Consistent with cognitive perspectives identifying self-schemata as a central basis for body image disturbances, findings indicated both Chinese and American young adults with concerns about body weight experience interference in processing body information linked to the self.
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