Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Self‐Face Perception in Men With Elevated Body Dysmorphic and Muscle Dysmorphia Symptoms: Subjective Recognition Difficulty and Negative Appearance Evaluation. |
| Authors: |
Portingale, Jade (AUTHOR), Krug, Isabel (AUTHOR), Butler, David (AUTHOR) |
| Source: |
European Eating Disorders Review. Mar2026, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p486-499. 14p. |
| Subjects: |
Recognition (Psychology), Southeast Asians, Body mass index, Questionnaires, Psychology of men, Body dysmorphic disorder, Body image, White people, Descriptive statistics, Age distribution, Personal beauty, Data analysis software, Self-perception, Face perception, Psychosocial factors |
| Geographic Terms: |
Victoria |
| Abstract: |
Objective: Self‐face perception, including recognising one's face as one's own and evaluating its appearance, is important to physical self‐concept. Yet how body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and muscle dysmorphia (MD) symptoms relate to these processes remains underexplored, particularly in men. This study examined how self‐face recognition accuracy and self‐face appearance evaluations are influenced by the severity of BDD and MD symptoms in men. Methods: Sixty‐eight male participants (Mage = 22.6 years, SD = 3.5; White and East/Southeast Asian) from the community performed a self‐face recognition task during which their faces were digitally morphed with an unfamiliar male face, providing an index of objective self‐face recognition sensitivity. Participants also completed measures of BDD and MD symptomatology, subjective self‐face recognition difficulty, and self‐face evaluations (attractiveness, adiposity, and dissatisfaction). Results: Higher levels of BDD symptoms and MD‐related appearance intolerance symptoms were associated with greater subjective self‐face recognition difficulty and more negative self‐face evaluations (lower attractiveness, greater dissatisfaction). Neither symptom dimension predicted objective self‐face recognition sensitivity or perceived facial adiposity. Conclusion: These findings reveal a theoretically informative dissociation: men with higher levels of BDD and MD symptoms experience greater subjective self‐recognition difficulties and negatively biased facial appearance evaluations despite intact objective self‐recognition performance. This pattern suggests that self‐face disturbances in BDD and MD may reflect cognitive‐affective biases rather than perceptual abnormalities, at least at non‐clinical severity levels. Future research in clinical samples is needed to determine whether perceptual deficits emerge at higher symptom severity and establish causality. Highlights: Higher levels of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) symptoms were associated with greater subjective self‐face recognition difficulty and lower perceived facial attractiveness in men.Higher levels of muscle dysmorphia (MD) symptoms, specifically appearance intolerance, were associated with greater subjective self‐face recognition difficulty, lower perceived facial attractiveness, and greater head dissatisfaction in men.BDD and MD symptoms were unrelated to objective self‐face recognition sensitivity, suggesting cognitive‐affective rather than perceptual mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: |
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
