Date of Award
5-2018
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts - Psychology
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Sarah Savoy
Second Advisor
Scott Drury
Third Advisor
Scott Hutchens
Fourth Advisor
Nina Ellis-Hervey
Abstract
The study examined the impact of Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) on body image and fear of fat in college women. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: an ABM condition or a non-ABM placebo condition in viewing a series of thin and non-thin body stimuli. Extending previous work documenting associations between attentional biases and body dissatisfaction and the effects of ABM on body dissatisfaction, we hypothesized that effects of an ABM task designed to direct attention toward non-thin bodies would: (a) decrease body dissatisfaction, (b) increase body appreciation, and (c) decrease fear of fat. There were no significant differences across experimental conditions on body dissatisfaction, body appreciation, and fear of fat. This was the case for both in-laboratory difference scores and follow-up difference scores. These findings are a conceptual replication of previous work (Loughnan et al., 2015). Methodological explanations are offered with respect to improving the future tests of ABM on attentional biases for thin and non-thin body images.
Repository Citation
KHALEGHI, NEUSHA, "Body Image, Fear of Fat, and Attentional Bias for Thin and Non-thin Bodies" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 183.
https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/183
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
