Attentional Biases Towards Body-Related Stimuli in Healthy Males: A Systematic Review

TL;DR

This review finds that adult males with body image concerns show attentional biases toward body-related stimuli, with differences observed compared to females.

Contribution

The study provides a systematic synthesis of attentional biases in males, highlighting gaps in current literature focused on female samples.

Findings

Adult males with body image concerns show attentional biases toward body-related stimuli.

Attentional biases differ between male and female participants.

Further research is needed on male-specific measures and factors like social comparison and physical activity.

Abstract

Recent literature has discussed the role of attentional biases towards body-related stimuli. Specific foci have been on those with high levels of body image concerns and female samples. Unfortunately, there has been limited focus on male samples within existing literature. The aim of the current study was to provide a critical synthesis of the findings of existing studies exploring attentional biases in adult males towards body-related stimuli. Critical synthesis of the findings of 20 studies explored four key methodologies: eye-tracking, dot-probe, visual search, and other methodologies (e.g. ARDPEI task). The current review provides evidence of specific attentional biases towards body-related stimuli in adult males experiencing body image concerns. Similar patterns of attentional biases are also demonstrated in males with body image pathologies. However, there appears to be distinct patterns of attentional biases for male and female participants. It is recommended that future research considers these findings and utilises measures developed specifically for male samples. Furthermore, additional variables require further attention, i.e. reasons for engaging in social comparison and/or engaging in physical activity.

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