Choplin, Hovannisian, & Nguyen

Abstract
Five experiments explored the effects of comparisons on body-size judgments. In
Experiment 1, participants judged the size of an average-sized woman after using either
the word “thinner” or the word “fatter” to comparing her to an overweight or underweight
woman. These comparisons biased judgments of her body size. In Experiments 2-4,
participants from three populations – Los Angeles gym patrons, American
undergraduates and Vietnamese undergraduates – compared themselves to others and
judged their own body sizes. Idiosyncratic uses of comparisons within these populations
produced different patterns of egocentric body-size judgments. In Experiment 5, factors
irrelevant to body size mediated body-size comparison effects. We argue that analogous
comparisons might be a confounding variable in effects traditionally thought perceptual
(e.g., Ebbinghaus illusion).