Impaired color naming of food and body shape words: Weight phobia or distinct affective state?

✍ Scribed by Green, Michael W. ;Elliman, Nicola A. ;Rogers, Peter J. ;Welch, Denise A.

• Book ID: 101261673
• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 182 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199701)21:1<77::aid-eat9>3.0.co;2-0

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

The current study investigated whether a concern with body shape and weight represents a distinct affective state, or whether it is better conceptualized as a highly specific form of anxiety.

Method:

The color-naming performance of women with a high drive for thinness score was examined under three experimental conditions: when a photograph of chocolate was present, when actual chocolate was present, and a control condition. high drive for thinness subjects demonstrated relatively impaired color naming of body shape words in the picture condition, but not in the food or control conditions.

Results:

Although there was a significant impairment in the color naming of food words, this was unaffected by condition or degree of drive for thinness.

Discussion:

The results are interpreted as supporting an analogy between weight/body shape concerns and subclinical phobic anxiety.