Abstract
High and low weight-preoccupied women were instructed to imagine themselves in situations described by ambiguous sentences related to body size. These ambiguous sentences could be interpreted in either a positive or negative manner. In a subsequent recognition memory test, subjects highly preoccupied with body weight were found to recall their imagery of the body-related situations with a negative interpretation. The interpretation of imagery to ambiguous performance and health-related situations was found to be unrelated to weight preoccupation. These findings suggest that interpretational biases may be a result of processing information which is of emotional concern to the individual, and that the biased interpretation of ambiguous body-related stimuli may function to maintain excessive preoccupation with body size.
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We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of David Blouin in the design and statistical analyses of this study. We thank Andrew Mathews for his help with the design and conceptualization of this study. We would also like to thank Mark Warner and Andy Gill for their assistance in working with Louisiana State University athletes.
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Jackman, L.P., Williamson, D.A., Netemeyer, R.G. et al. Do weight-preoccupied women misinterpret ambiguous stimuli related to body size?. Cogn Ther Res 19, 341–355 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02230404
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02230404