Personality theorists have called attention to the fact that the phenomenal self may be more or less highly differentiated@# pp. 142-149, 69 PR *O-93). By differentiation, they refer to the subject's recognition and differential response t o the various parts of which the total self is comprised. By the same line of reasoning, we could speak of a person's phenomenal body, or "body-image" as being more or less highly differentiated. A person with a highly differentiated body-image might be expected to show more differential behavior toward the various aspects of his body than an individual with a less-differentiated body-image. One measure of differential behavior is an individual's variance in responding to a questionnaire comprised of items which derive from the same conceptual universe. Thus, a person who varies his responses to items pertaining to his self and to his body would obtain higher variances than a person who responded similarly t o these items; he might be said, thus, to have a more highly differentiated self-concept and body-image than the latter.
In previous investigations utilizing scales of body-cathexis and self-cathexis (4), it was noted that female subjects (Ss) showed greater variability than males in making cathexis-responses t o their bodies. The males tended t o limit their cathexisresponses to a smaller number of scale categories. The present investigation was undertaken in order to determine whether this observed trend was consistent, and to compare body-and self-diff erentiations within and between the sexes. Since this may be viewed as an exploratory study, the null hypothesis appears to be most warranted for initial testing. It is stated as follows: There will be no differences between the sexes in variability of cathexis-responses to the body and the self, nor will there be within-sex differences in variability of cathexis-responses to the body and the self.