Kevin R. Brooks

A widely accepted model of first impressions posits that trait judgements of faces have two orthogonal underlying dimensions: ‘valence’ (trustworthiness) and ‘dominance’. Studies have tested whether this model extends to body perception, but results were inconsistent. Given previous findings that stimulus viewpoints can significantly alter trait ratings of bodies, the present study aimed to determine whether this confound can explain the discrepancy between previous studies. Participants rated 100 bodies in either frontal or profile view on 14 personality traits. The resulting data were then analysed using principal components analysis (PCA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The PCA and EFA produced two factors regardless of viewpoint, replicating the valence–dominance model for frontal and profile stimuli. As stimulus viewpoint did not strongly affect the underlying factors, the discrepancy between past papers is likely due to other stimulus differences. The present study confirmed that the valence–dominance model applies to body perception, raising the possibility that this model may apply to person perception more generally. Future research should determine whether these dimensions arise in other modalities, such as movement perception (e.g., walking gait) or touch perception (e.g., handshakes).

Body posture represents an underexplored cue in social perception research, despite its potential to signal psychological states. To investigate predictions from the Embodied Emotion Theory, we examined whether body posture influences perceptions of attractiveness and self-esteem, and whether these perceptions serve as valid cues to self-reported self-esteem. First, individuals completed self-esteem measures and were photographed. Then, across three studies, observers rated photographs of these individuals (N = 108) displaying upright and slouched postures from profile and frontal viewing angles. Study 1 examined the correlations between posture angles and observer ratings using left-profile photographs. Study 2 extended this to right-profile and frontal views to distinguish posture alignment from symmetry effects. Study 3 employed a forced-choice experimental design to establish causal relationships. Results demonstrate a systematic preference for upright postures in forced-choice comparisons, with observers consistently selecting more upright over slouched postures as more attractive and indicative of higher self-esteem. However, while observers accurately judged participants’ self-esteem levels, no significant associations emerged between posture and attractiveness ratings in correlational analyses. Two unexpected findings emerged: only 13% of subjects naturally displayed upright posture, and mediation analysis revealed no relationship between posture presentation and actual self-reported self-esteem. These findings suggest that observers consistently use posture cues for social judgements and show strong preferences for upright postures. However, standard angular measurements may not capture the subtle posture information that observers naturally detect. Most subjects displayed slouched postures, yet observers consistently evaluated upright presentations more positively.

People’s first impressions, including social evaluations, are strongly influenced by the appearances of others. Body posture contributes to one’s appearance and hence may be associated with these social judgements. This study investigated whether body posture influences observers’ perceptions of trustworthiness and dominance, two principal components of body perception. The stimuli (N = 121) consist of greyscale photos depicting individuals in standardised clothing, standing naturally in left profile. Posture was objectively quantified by measuring three angles: head tilt, neck angle, and shoulder angle. Judgements from raters (N = 237) were analysed in relation to these posture metrics. A more upright posture was associated with higher perceived trustworthiness and dominance. Importantly, these effects remained significant even after accounting for sex-based anatomical differences using z-score normalisation. While sex independently contributed to the perception of trustworthiness and dominance, posture contributed uniquely and consistently to social judgements. These findings highlight posture as a key element of body perception and underscore its importance in shaping first impressions.

People lead increasingly sedentary lifestyles and spend extended periods sitting in slouched and head-forward positions, which can lead to health issues. People are so accustomed to seeing slouched posture that they may perceive it as normal and fail to notice their own slouched posture. We aim to investigate this possibility using the visual adaptation paradigm, which has provided insights into the perception of body size and shape in the context of exposure to thin bodies in the media. The experiment was conducted in three phases. First, participants established the posture they perceived as normal by manipulating body stimuli shown in profile view. In the second phase, the adaptation phase, participants viewed bodies with extremely upright or slouched postures before establishing their perceived normal posture again in the third phase. Perceived normal posture differed significantly before versus after adaptation, demonstrating a visual aftereffect. However, this only applied if test and adaptation bodies were presented in the same orientation, suggesting that our representation of posture is retina-centred rather than object-centred. This result reduces the likelihood that visual adaptation influences the increase in slouched posture in the population. These results contribute to understanding visual influences on people’s perception of body posture.

Body image disturbance is a both a risk factor for, and a symptom of, many eating disorders and refers to the misperception of and dissatisfaction with one's own body. Women with high body dissatisfaction have been shown to direct more attention to low body mass index (BMI) bodies, which results in the overestimation of body size via body size adaptation. Therefore, attention may have a causal role in body image disturbance. We conducted a novel training visual search task with 142 young adult women who we trained to attend to either high or low BMI bodies. We assessed the effects of this training on attention to bodies of different sizes, body size adaptation, and body dissatisfaction. Women trained to attend to low BMI bodies decreased their perceptions of a ‘normal’ body size via adaptation from pre- to post-training ( p < 0.001); however, women trained to attend to high BMI bodies showed no change in their perception of a ‘normal’ body size. We found no lasting effects of the training on attention to body size or body dissatisfaction; however, our visual search task showed poor internal consistency as a measure of attention. These findings indicate that attention to low BMI bodies may exacerbate body image disturbance in women. However, more reliable measures of attentional are required to confirm this finding.

Background: Past studies have primarily focused on the impact of body weight perception on psychological health. However, other components (e.g., perceived body fat and muscularity) may also play a role. This study aimed to examine the association between weight status (i.e., normal weight and obesity/overweight) and psychological health, and how different components of body perception mediate the association.Methods: From February to June 2022, 621 undergraduates completed an online cross sectional survey, which included questions about height, weight, psychological health (i.e., well‐being, quality of life, depression, anxiety, and stress), and body perception. Participants with a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 kg/m² and 25 kg/m² were classified as normal weight, while those over 25 kg/m² were classified as individuals with obesity/overweight. Path analysis tested the association between weight status and psychological health and the mediating role of perceived body weight, fat, and muscularity.Results: Obesity/overweight was associated with lower well‐being (β = 0.128, p = 0.002) and physical health‐related quality of life (β = 0.089, p = 0.024), and higher depression (β = −0.133, p = 0.002) and stress (β = −0.104, p = 0.013). These associations were fully mediated by perceived body fat, with estimates ranging from −0.122 to 0.112. Perceived body weight and perceived muscularity did not significantly mediate these associations.Conclusion: Perceived body fat was the only component of body perception that explained the association between weight status and psychological health. This finding suggests that research on psychological health in individuals with obesity or overweight needs to extend beyond mere perceived body weight and incorporate different components of body perception. Furthermore, interventions aimed at improving psychological health in individuals with obesity or overweight need to consider the potential effect of perceived body fat.

Body dissatisfaction—the negative subjective evaluation of one’s body—is associated with negative health outcomes, including eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. Eye-tracking studies consistently show that women with high body dissatisfaction, compared to women with low body dissatisfaction, direct more gaze toward low weight bodies. However, reaction time measures of attention produce inconsistent results and typically do not distinguish between engagement and disengagement bias. We conducted an Attentional Response to Distal Versus Proximal Emotional Information (ARDPEI) task with 200 young adult Malaysian women to measure engagement and disengagement bias to body size. Contrary to our hypotheses, we did not find evidence for a positive relationship between engagement or disengagement bias to body size and body dissatisfaction. We did find weak evidence for a negative relationship between engagement bias to low weight bodies and body dissatisfaction. However, the ARDPEI task demonstrated poor internal consistency as a measure of attentional bias. We recommend that researchers testing the relationship between attentional bias and body dissatisfaction measure attention using eye-tracking or an ARDPEI task adapted to an individual differences framework.

Body image disturbance is a both a risk factor for, and a symptom of, many eating disorders and refers to the misperception of and dissatisfaction with one’s own body. Women with high body dissatisfaction have been shown to direct more attention to low body mass index (BMI) bodies, which results in the overestimation of body size via body size adaptation. Therefore, attention may have a causal role in body image disturbance. We conducted a novel training visual search task with 142 young adult women who we trained to attend to either high or low BMI bodies. We assessed the effects of this training on attention to bodies of different sizes, body size adaptation, and body dissatisfaction. Women trained to attend to low BMI bodies decreased their perceptions of a “normal” body size via adaptation from pre- to post-training (p < .001); however, women trained to attend to high BMI bodies showed no change in their perception of a “normal” body size. We found no lasting effects of the training on attention to body size or body dissatisfaction; however, our visual search task showed poor internal consistency as a measure of attention. These findings indicate that attention to low BMI bodies may exacerbate body image disturbance in women. However, more reliable measures of attentional are required to confirm this finding.

Studies suggest that an attentional bias to thin bodies is common among those with high levels of body dissatisfaction, which is a risk factor for, and symptom of, various eating disorders. However, these studies have predominantly been conducted in Western countries with body stimuli involving images of White people. In a preregistered study, we recruited 150 Malaysian Chinese women and 150 White Australian women for a study using standardized images of East Asian and White Australian bodies. To measure attentional bias to thin bodies, participants completed a dot probe task which presented images of women who self-identified their ethnicity as East Asian or as White Australian. Contrary to previous findings, we found no evidence for an association between body dissatisfaction and attentional bias to thin bodies. This lack of association was not affected by participant ethnicity (Malaysian Chinese versus White Australian) or ethnic congruency between participants and body stimuli (own-ethnicity versus other-ethnicity). However, the internal consistency of the dot probe task was poor. These results suggest that either the relationship between body dissatisfaction and attentional bias to thin bodies is not robust, or the dot probe task may not be a reliable measure of attentional bias to body size.