Selfie behavior and cosmetic surgery consideration in adolescents: the mediating roles of physical appearance comparisons and facial appearance concern.

Selfie activity may contribute to the acceptance of cosmetic surgery in adolescents, although few empirical studies exist. Based on social comparison theory, this study examined the association between selfie behavior and cosmetic surgery consideration among Chinese adolescents and further tested the possible mediating roles of social comparison and facial appearance concern in this relationship. A sample of 537 adolescents (339 girls and 198 boys) were recruited voluntarily to complete questionnaires on selfie behavior, upward physical appearance comparison, facial appearance concern and cosmetic surgery consideration. Linear regression and mediation analyses were conducted. The results showed that selfie behavior predicted higher level of adolescents' cosmetic surgery consideration. Moreover, this relationship was sequentially mediated through upward physical appearance comparison and facial appearance concern. These findings expand the existent literature by suggesting that selfie behavior may trigger upward social comparison in adolescents, which in turn increase their acceptance of cosmetic surgery.

Effects of trait fear of pain on event-related potentials during word cue presentations that signal potential pain.

People who are especially afraid of pain may display attention biases that increase their risk for developing chronic pain following an injury. However, specific neurophysiological mechanisms underlying associations between elevated trait fear of pain levels and environmental cues that signal potential pain experiences are not well understood. To address this gap, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded among 39 high pain-fearful (H-FOP) and 36 low pain-fearful (L-FOP) adults exposed to potentially painful somatosensory stimulation cued by sensory pain words versus non-painful stimulation cued by neutral words. H-FOP group members displayed slower reaction times in judging somatosensory stimulation and rated stimulation to be more intense than L-FOP group members did. H-FOP group members also exhibited comparatively earlier peak latencies of P2 and N2 components during word cue presentations as well as weaker P3 amplitudes in processing non-painful stimulation cued by sensory pain words. These findings suggested that, among the high trait pain-fearful, exposure to word cues signaling potential pain results in the allocation of fewer cognitive resources toward processing somatosensory stimuli that are not actually painful.

Approach and inhibition responses to external food cues among average-weight women who binge eat and weight-matched controls.

Despite laboratory evidence linking impulsivity to binge-eating (BE) among people with obesity, it is unclear whether such inhibitory control deficits extend to average-weight persons who binge eat or influence actual calories consumed when such opportunities present. Towards clarifying these issues, women with higher (n = 31) and lower (n = 31) BE levels engaged in a visual Go/No-Go task comprising images of high-calorie foods, low-calorie foods, and household objects, after which they completed a self-report battery in an environment conducive to snacking. Analyses indicated these groups did not differ in task-based false alarm rates (i.e., responding when response inhibition was required) but the higher BE group reported more trait-based impulsivity, was faster and more accurate in responding to "Go" trials involving high-calorie food images, and was more likely to eat at least one snack during post-task questionnaire completion. Within the entire sample, faster "Go" trial reaction times and higher false alarm rates across image types predicted higher post-task calorie intake levels while BE status and trait impulsivity did not. In sum, average weight women who binge eat were more responsive to high calorie food cues but showed no evidence of behavioral inhibitory control deficits compared to weight-matched controls.

Attention Disengagement Difficulties among Average Weight Women Who Binge Eat.

In this study, we assessed biases in attention disengagement among average-weight women with binge-eating (n = 33) and non-eating disordered controls (n = 31). Participants engaged in a spatial cueing paradigm task wherein they first observed high-calorie food, low-calorie food, or neutral images and then had to quickly locate targets in either the same or a different location. Within both groups, reaction times (RTs) were longer to valid-cued trials (i.e. target appearing in location of preceding cue) than to invalid-cued trials (i.e. targets appearing in location different from initial location), reflecting a general inhibition of return (IOR) effect. However, RT findings also indicated that women with BE had significantly more difficulty disengaging from high-calorie food images than did controls, even though neither group had disengagement problems related to other image types. Selective attention disengagement difficulties related to high-calorie food images suggested that increased reward sensitivity to such cues is related to binge eating risk. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Effects of cause of pain on the processing of pain in others: an ERP study.

Determining how the perceived cause of pain influences the perception of pain in others has implications for prosocial behavior and moral reasoning. In this research, behavior and event-related potential (ERP) responses were recorded as 28 participants (12 men, 16 women) viewed images of painful situations said to be self-inflicted by the protagonist or caused by another person on the protagonist. As predicted, participants provided significantly higher pain intensity ratings for depictions featuring pain caused by another person than depictions of self-inflicted pain. ERP analyses showed no significant differences between protagonist alone and protagonist with other images of pain in the early negative component (N1). However, contrary to initial hypotheses, more positive P3 amplitudes were induced by images of self-inflicted pain in protagonists than images of protagonist pain caused by another person. Salience was considered as a key influence that may help to account for this pattern of findings.

Sexual Harassment and Binge Eating Among Chinese Female Undergraduates: A Mediation Model of Self-Objectification and Self-Control.

Sexual harassment is a serious health issue prevalent on campuses worldwide, with significant implications for individuals' well-being. Past research has highlighted the close association between sexual harassment and eating disorders, yet little is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study aimed to investigate the potential mediating roles of self-objectification and self-control in linking sexual harassment to binge eating, drawing upon objectification theory and self-control resource theory. A sample of 801 Chinese female undergraduates, with a mean age of 19.60 years (SD = 1.42), participated in the study by completing questionnaires on sexual harassment experience, self-objectification, self-control, and binge eating. The results indicated that sexual harassment experience exhibited a significant positive correlation with binge eating and self-objectification, while showing a negative correlation with self-control. And an increased frequency of sexual harassment experiences and self-objectification were associated with lower levels of self-control. Furthermore, mediation analyses utilizing Hayes' PROCESS macro (2013) for SPSS (Model 6) demonstrated that both self-objectification and self-control independently and sequentially mediated the relationship between sexual harassment and young women's binge eating. In other words, young women who had experienced sexual harassment were more likely to exhibit increased self-objectification, leading to decreased self-control and ultimately culminating in binge eating behaviors. This study provides valuable insights into how sexual harassment affects young women's binge eating by elucidating the mediating roles of self-objectification and self-control, thus enhancing our understanding of developing strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of experiencing sexual harassment.

Social Comparison and Female Adolescents' Selfie Behaviors: Body Surveillance as the Mediator and Self-Esteem as the Moderator.

The current study aimed to examine whether body surveillance mediated the relation between social comparison and selfie behaviors, and whether this mediating process was moderated by self-esteem. A sample of 339 female adolescents were recruited to participate in the present study and completed self-report measures of selfie behaviors, upward and downward appearance comparisons with peers, self-objectification and self-esteem. Results indicated that body surveillance mediated the association between upward physical appearance comparison and selfie behaviors. In addition, self-esteem moderated the relation between body surveillance and selfie behaviors. These findings add to the extant literature by suggesting that selfies may be some new ways of body surveillance and physical appearance comparison, which have some theoretical and practical implications.

Why do selfies increase young women's willingness to consider cosmetic surgery in China? The mediating roles of body surveillance and body shame.

The present study was designed to examine a possible two mediator model with both body surveillance and body shame mediating the association of selfie behavior with cosmetic surgery consideration in young adult women. A sample of 588 young adult women participated in this study and completed questionnaires regarding selfie behavior, body surveillance, body shame, and cosmetic surgery consideration. Results indicated that selfie behavior was positively related to cosmetic surgery consideration. In addition, the mediation analysis by PROCESS revealed that body surveillance and body shame mediated the relation between selfie behavior and cosmetic surgery consideration. These findings add to the extant literature by suggesting that selfie behavior may be a new experience of self-objectification, which provide new insights into the relation between selfie activities and cosmetic surgery consideration in young women.

Fear of pain and event-related potentials during exposure to image-cued somatosensory stimulation.

Numerous behavior studies have assessed links of pain-related fear with biases in attention towards pain stimuli but considerably less is known about neural processes underlying such biases. To address this gap, event-related potentials (ERPs) were examined as 39 high pain-fearful (Hi-FOP) and 36 low pain-fearful (Lo-FOP) adults (1) viewed non-painful versus painful images and (2) subsequently received non-painful versus possibly painful somatosensory stimulation, respectively. The Hi-FOP group judged both non-painful and painful somatosensory stimulation to be more intense than Lo-FOP group members did. Hi-FOP group members also displayed smaller N1 amplitudes than Lo-FOP group members did during image presentations, regardless of image type. Finally, Lo-FOP group members exhibited larger P3 amplitudes when processing potentially painful somatosensory stimulation compared to non-painful stimulation while no such difference was observed in Hi-FOP group members. Overall results suggested that the pain-fearful tended to exaggerate the subjective intensity of potentially painful somatosensory stimuli but allocated comparatively fewer cognitive resources to processing such stimulation; arguably, this pattern perpetuates high fear of pain levels.

Impaired Conflict Monitoring to Food Cues in Women Who Binge Eat.

Previous research demonstrated the associations between cognitive biases toward food cues and binge eating (BE) behavior. To determine the characteristics of conflict monitoring to food cues in women who binge eat and non-eating disordered controls, a flanker task featured high-caloric food and low-caloric food images was used to examine conflict monitoring with measures of accuracy and reaction time. Women who binge eat displayed longer reaction times (RTs) to incongruent trials (i.e., flanked by pictures from the different category) than to congruent trials (i.e., flanked by pictures from the same category), while controls showed no such difference. This finding demonstrated women who binge eat displayed a general flanker effect toward food-related stimuli compared to controls. Faster reaction times in response to high-caloric food images disturbed by low-caloric food images predicted lower self-reported motor impulsiveness in the women who binge eat, but not in controls. These data suggest a relative conflict monitoring deficit in women with BE pathology.

Acute Stressors Reduce Neural Inhibition to Food Cues and Increase Eating Among Binge Eating Disorder Symptomatic Women.

Stressors can trigger binge-eating but researchers have yet to consider their effects on both neural responses to food cues and food consumption among those at risk. In this experiment, we examined the impact of acute stressors on neural activation to food images and subsequent food consumption within binge-eating disorder (BED) and non-eating disordered control groups. Eighteen women meeting DSM-IV BED criteria and 26 women serving as non-eating disordered controls were randomly assigned to unpleasant stressor (painful cold pressor test (CPT) followed by negative performance feedback) or less unpleasant stressor (non-painful sensory discrimination task followed by positive performance feedback) conditions. Subsequently, they were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while viewing food and neutral images. After the scans, participants completed a self-report battery in an environment conducive to snacking. During exposure to food images, BED-symptomatic women in the unpleasant stressor condition reported more liking of high calorie food images and showed less activation in one inhibitory area, the hippocampus, compared to controls in this condition. BED-symptomatic women exposed to unpleasant stressors also consumed more chocolate than any other group during the post-scan questionnaire completion. Crucially, reduced hippocampal activation to high calorie food images predicted more chocolate consumption following fMRI scans within the entire sample. This experiment provides initial evidence suggesting unpleasant acute stressors contribute to reduced inhibitory region responsiveness in relation to external food cues and later food consumption among BED-symptomatic women.