COMPARISON OF 3 PSYCHOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUES FOR ESTIMATING BODY-SIZE PERCEPTION

Perception of body size was recorded for 63 university students (M age =25.1 yr., 41 women) who estimated their own body size using three met hods. Using the method of adjustment, subjects over- or underestimated their body size. A signal-detection analysis indicated that subjects were sensitive to detecting a 4% distortion in body size and that ther e was no systematic bias for reporting distortion as present or absent . Scores on the adaptive probit estimation task were significantly cor related with values for point of subjective equality and the size judg ements with the method of adjustment. Over-all, this experiment demons trated adaptive probit estimation as a reliable indicator of perceived body size, sensitivity in detecting size distortion, and response bia s in making body-size judgements.