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.