Unterhalter Gina, Farrell Simon, Mohr Christine
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TU Bristol, UK.
Eat Behav. 2007 Aug;8(3):382-9. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2006.11.015. Epub 2006 Dec 11.
Women show "fear of fatness" and men a "drive for muscularity." Moreover, women perceive themselves as larger and men more muscular than they actually are. We tested potential memory biases congruent with these sex-specific body image concerns. Free recall performance for weight-related and muscle-related positive and negative words was assessed in 40 healthy undergraduate students (20 men). Men revealed a recall advantage for positive muscle words, while women showed a general advantage for positive and negative weight-related words. Thus, men revealed a memory bias congruent with their personal preference (more muscular), while women showed a general memory bias for weight information independent of their personal preference of being thinner. The absence of a positive memory bias in women might explain the higher incidence of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in this population.
女性表现出“对肥胖的恐惧”，而男性则有“追求肌肉发达”的倾向。此外，女性认为自己比实际体型更大，男性则认为自己比实际肌肉更发达。我们测试了与这些特定性别的身体形象问题相符的潜在记忆偏差。在40名健康的本科生（20名男性）中评估了与体重相关和与肌肉相关的积极和消极词汇的自由回忆表现。男性对积极的肌肉词汇表现出回忆优势，而女性对与体重相关的积极和消极词汇总体上表现出优势。因此，男性表现出与个人偏好（更肌肉发达）相符的记忆偏差，而女性则对体重信息表现出总体记忆偏差，与她们个人对更瘦的偏好无关。女性缺乏积极的记忆偏差可能解释了该人群中身体不满和饮食失调的较高发生率。
