Body Dissatisfaction and Body-Related Attentional Bias: Is There a Causal Relationship?

Abstract

Attentional bias; Avoidance; Virtual reality

Sesgo atencional; Evitación; Realidad virtual

Biaix atencional; Evitació; Realitat virtual

Previous research has shown an association between body dissatisfaction and attentional biases toward the body, but the nature of this relationship is not clear. It is possible that dissatisfaction causes attentional bias or that dissatisfaction is a result of such bias. To clarify the causal relationship between these two variables, this study manipulated dissatisfaction in a sample of healthy women by exposing them to images of "ideal" bodies and observed whether this manipulation increased attentional biases toward different body parts. Fifty-seven women took part in a pre-post experimental design in which they observed an avatar representing themselves in a virtual mirror before and after being exposed to "thin ideal" photographs. Eye-tracking technology was employed to quantify the frequency and duration of fixations on weight-related and weight-unrelated body parts. The outcomes revealed a successful induction of body dissatisfaction, leading participants to display a heightened number of fixations and prolonged fixation durations on unrelated-weight body parts. These findings remained significant after controlling for the effects of trait body dissatisfaction and body mass index. The results imply that heightened body dissatisfaction fosters the aversion of attention from weight-related body parts, which may function as a protective mechanism for preserving self-esteem and promoting psychological well-being.

This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain), Grant PID2019-108657RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. This study also has the support of “Fundació La Marató de TV3”, Grant 202217-10