Implicit Attitudes Toward Body Shape Among Blind Women

High levels of body image concerns and disordered eating in western women have been associated with the promotion of an unrealistically thin body ideal. The pressure to conform with the thin-ideal forms both explicit and implicit attitudes favoring thinness. Visual-based media depicting thin-idealized bodies plays a major role in forming such attitudes. However, attitudes favoring thinness can also be transmitted through non-visual communication such as peer pressure and significant others. The current study will examine if implicit attitudes favoring thinness and disliking overweight bodies can be formed without ever being exposed to visual-based media or being visually exposed to body shapes. To achieve this goal, the study will assess implicit attitudes towards thin and overweight bodies in congenitally blind women and those who were blinded early in life. The assessment will be carried out using a novel auditory weight-bias implicit association test.