The impact of the amount of social evaluation on psychobiological responses to a body image threat

• The impact of amount of body image threat on shame and cortisol was examined.
• Women faced a body image threat in an individual or group setting, or sat quietly.
• Shame and cortisol were highest in the threat conditions compared to quiet rest.
• No differences in shame and cortisol were found between the two threat conditions.
• Cortisol did not significantly increase from pre- to post-assessment in any group.

The present study examined the impact of amount of social-evaluative body image threat on psychobiological responses. Women (N = 123) were randomized into an individual-threat, group-threat or no-threat condition. Participants completed a measure of state body shame and provided a sample of saliva (to assess cortisol) at baseline and following their condition. Both threat conditions had higher baseline-adjusted body shame following the threat compared to the no-threat condition; however, no difference on baseline-adjusted body shame between the threat conditions was found. The same pattern of results was found for cortisol – both threat conditions had higher baseline-adjusted response cortisol than the no-threat condition, with no significant differences between the threat groups. Findings suggest that the magnitude of psychobiological responses to a social-evaluative body image threat does not differ with the amount of social-evaluative threat (individual- versus group-threat). These findings provide insight into the context of body image threats of women.