Psychological responses to three dimensional body shape exposure in female university students

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to experimentally investigate the psychological responses of women to two dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) body image exposure. Seventy female undergraduate students were randomly assigned to view life-size images of themselves in 2D or 3D) as well as to receive one of two sets of instructions (nonjudgmental self-description [NSD] versus no instruction). Body dissatisfaction (BD), length of time engaged in mindful activity, and self-reported mood were assessed throughout the experiment. Among participants with dispositionally low-shape concerns, exposure to 3D images produced significantly lower BD compared to their 2D counterparts. Among participants with high-shape concerns, BD decreased significantly from pre- to post-exposure among those viewing their images in 2D with NSD instruction. Conversely BD decreased significantly from pre- to post-exposure among participants in the 3D condition who simply viewed their images without instruction.