Use Your Imagination: College Women's Responses to a Social-Evaluative Body Image Threat

This study examined psychological and heart rate responses to an imagined social‐evaluative body image threat in women (N = 97). Participants were randomly assigned to picture themselves trying on swimsuits in a store with a group of friends (social‐evaluative threat) or alone (non‐social‐evaluative threat). Measures of state body image and heart rate recordings were completed prior to and following the scenario. A significant group‐by‐time interaction was found for state body image, F(2, 93) = 3.69, p = .03, with the highest body shame and social physique anxiety reported in the social‐evaluative group. No differences were found for heart rate. The findings highlight the usefulness of imagined scenarios when examining psychological responses and the challenges of capturing changes in physiological outcomes.