Are individuals with an eating disorder less sensitive to aesthetic flaws than healthy controls?

This study aimed to investigate whether the positive evaluation of other people's bodies is due to difficulties in the recognition of flaws in attractive features of others.

Thirty female individuals with an eating disorder (IEDs) and 30 normal controls (NCs) rated pictures of a woman's face in relation to various manipulated facial features. Accuracy rates, discrepancy scores, and response times were assessed. Participants also answered questionnaires relating to social comparison, internalization of the slender ideal, and eating disorder symptoms.

NCs were significantly more accurate at detecting flaws and recognized the degree of manipulation better than IEDs. A MANCOVA including body-image-relevant variables was not statistically significant, but the drive to be thin (Eating Disorder Inventory-2) and the number of comorbid disorders were significant covariates. No significant associations were found between internalization of the slender ideal, tendency for social comparison, eating-disorder-relevant variables, and indicators of aesthetic sensitivity, for either IEDs or NCs. When both groups were combined, a significant correlation between drive for thinness and indicators of the ability to detect facial flaws was revealed.

IEDs are less capable of recognizing flaws in the appearance of others, which appears to be moderated by the degree of drive for thinness and the degree of psychiatric comorbidity. Evaluating the appearance of others more positively in contrast to one's own appearance could lead to poor self-evaluation, thus reinforcing body dissatisfaction and contributing toward the maintenance of the disorder.