Male Body Image and Visual Attention Towards Oneself and Other Men

Abstract

Whereas for women, body image disturbances have been shown to be associated with a biased, self-deprecating pattern of body-directed visual attention, it has never been directly studied how men look at their own and other bodies and whether gaze behavior is moderated by traits central to male body image (i.e., drive for thinness and muscularity). Therefore, 45 weight-training men were eye-tracked while being presented with photographs of their own body and photographs of 3 other men with various body builds (normal, muscular, hyper-muscular). With regard to one's own body, men with a high drive for thinness showed a rather dysfunctional pattern of attention allocation, with a decreased focus on body parts with which they were most satisfied and increased attention toward body parts with which they were least satisfied compared with low-scoring men. Unexpectedly, comparing men with a high versus low drive for muscularity, the opposite pattern was observed. Among the 3 other bodies, the attractive body parts of the muscular body drew the most visual attention. Results confirm and extend recent findings on the relevance of muscularity for male body image. At the same time, they indicate a prominent role of drive for thinness for body-related attentional biases assumed to perpetuate body dissatisfaction even in men.