بررسی اثر بخشی اصلاح سوگیری شناختی نسبت به ظاهر فیزیکی بر نگرانی از تصویر بدنی در دانشجویان دختر. (Persian)

The Effectiveness of the Modification of Cognitive Bias towards Physical Appearance on Body Image Concerns in College Students. (English)

Introduction Physical appearance is an important part of the body image, a part of identity, the first source of information for others in social interactions, and one of the important factors in the formation of personality. Body image plays a critical role in several areas of people's lives. Body image concern can be defined as a person's perception, feelings, and thoughts about his own body, which is usually considered as a combination of body size estimation, body attractiveness evaluation, and various feelings related to body shape and size. Previous studies show the relationship between body image dissatisfaction and such disorders as depression, anxiety, and anorexia nervosa. Dissatisfaction with body image is also a strong factor imposing cosmetic surgery, having an inverse relationship with self-esteem, self-confidence, academic performance, and quality of life. Considering that there is a relationship between negative body image and cognitive biases towards the body and the fact that cognitive bias towards physical appearance is one of the reasons of increasing dissatisfaction with body image, cognitive bias is a useful target for therapeutic intervention. Taking into account the mentioned issues, this study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of correcting cognitive bias towards physical appearance on body image concerns among female university students. Method This study relied on a semi-experimental design, using a pre-test, post-test, and control group. The statistical population consisted of female students of Foulad University of Technology (about 700 people), in the academic year of 2018-2019, being 18 to 30 years old. Using purposeful sampling method and executing inclusion criteria including not receiving psychological and psychiatric treatments and not performing cosmetic surgery, this study selected 200 students. All of the students completed the body image questionnaire. Then, among the 45 students who scored higher than the cut-off point (57) in the body image questionnaire, 30 participants were randomly selected and placed into experimental and control groups (15 participants in each group) using the random assignment method. Absence of more than two sessions in the process of intervention, aimed at correcting cognitive bias, was considered as exclusion criterion. Body image concern was measured using a questionnaire with the same title that was developed and validated by Littleton, Axsom and Pury (2005). This measure includes two components of a person's dissatisfaction and embarrassment with appearance and the degree of interference of concern about appearance in a person's social performance. Measuring and correcting cognitive bias towards physical appearance were also done using a modified visual version of the Dot-probe task. First, the amount of attention bias towards beautiful faces (the target) was measured, and then, based on the insights of Flakiger et al. (2020) on the number of sessions needed for effective psychological interventions, eight 30-40 minute intervention sessions were conducted for the experimental group members. Finally, using the one-way analysis of covariance statistical test, the effectiveness of the intervention on the degree of participants’ bias towards beautiful faces and also their concern about their own body image were analyzed. Results The results showed that there is a significant difference between the average scores of cognitive bias towards physical appearance in the experimental and control groups (F=7.19, P<0.005). Correcting cognitive bias towards physical appearance reduced cognitive bias towards physical appearance. Therefore, the results confirmed the first hypothesis of the research regarding the impact of correcting cognitive bias on reducing cognitive bias towards physical appearance. Moreover, the results showed that there is a significant difference between the average scores of concern about body image in the experimental and control groups. Therefore, the results confirmed the second hypothesis of the research regarding the impact of correcting cognitive bias on reducing concern about body image. Discussion and conclusion The results on the effectiveness of an intervention program aimed at correcting cognitive bias on reducing cognitive bias and on reducing the anxiety of female students regarding their body image, opens a new venue for how to implement such cognitive interventions. More research can clarify the details of this impact and lead to intervention programs that reduce the desire for cosmetic surgery among women. Correcting cognitive bias can be used as an effective method to prevent the formation of concern about body image. This research faced such limitations as the difficulty of communicating with students due to the spread of the Covid-19, being satisfied with one gender and a certain stratum of society (students), and using self-report tools to measure the sensitive issue of concern about body image among girls. Despite these limitations, the transparent impact of the intervention program aimed at correcting cognitive bias on reducing cognitive bias and also on reducing the concern of female students about their body image, offers a new perspective for how to implement such cognitive interventions in order to reduce the negative impact of cognitive factors related to body image on mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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