Cross-validation of sex differences in aniseikonic perception.

The different socializing experiences males and females encounter are reflected in their different attitudes toward specific body areas. Previous findings ( 1 ) suggested that because the male learns to have less anxiety about motility in space than the female, he also has relatively less anxiety about his legs (which are most intimately associated with movement). Further, women who generally learn to be more openly emotionally expressive than men showed relatively less anxiety about the facial regions ( the prime region for emotional communication). Fisher demonstrated this pattern in a study dealing with the differences in aniseikonic perception' of the legs and head in males and females. Females who looked at themselves in a mirror while wearing aniseikonic lenses saw significantly less change in rheir legs than did males, while males saw significantly less change in rheir heads than did females. Earlier, Wittreich and Radcliffe ( 4 ) demonstrated that the greater the anxiety linked with a perceptual target the greater the resistance to perceiving it as perceprually altered when viewing i t aniseikonically. Analogously, it has been shown that when anxiety is attached to a particular body area there is a tendency, when wearing aniseikonic lenses, to resist perceiving it as altered ( 3 ) . Anxiety, in this context, seemingly motivates one to maintain things as they are, thus avoiding potentially threatening change. The present study was an attempt to cross-validate prior findings ( 1 ) concerned with the differences in aniseikonic perception of the legs and head. College students ( 5 3 female, 37 male) were paid for their participation. Their median age was 20 yr. The earlier procedure ( 1 ) for measuring aniseikonic perception of one's body was not employed here; rather a more precise method ( 2 ) was used. Each S was asked to face a full length mirror 5 ft. from him, while wearing the first of three sets of aniseikonic lenses differing in the degree of aniseikonia produced. Three sets were used to increase the reliability of the procedure. A 2-min. acclimation period was given to each S for the first pair of lenses; and verbalization of perceived changes in the walls, floor, ceiling, or door was encouraged. S was then asked to look at his own image and rank order the head, arms, chest, abdomen, pelvis, and legs, proceeding from the area most changed to that least changed. A schematic diagram of the body was provided with each major area of the body designated by a number which S could cite as he made his ranking judgments. This procedure was repeated for each of the two other sets of lenses. Comparison of mean rank of Ss for the three lens trials combined yielded results consistent with expectation. The median rank for legs for men was 3.33 (range k 5 . 3 3 ) and for women was 4.00 (range 0 4 . 0 0 ) . The median rank for head for men was 4.33 (range 0-6.0) and for women 3.33 (range 0-6.0). Employing the Mann-Whitney U test and a one-tail test (since this was a cross-validation effort) , females perceived significantly ( U = 2.34, p < .01) fewer changes in t h e i ~ legs than did males. Also, males perceived significantly ( U = 1.70, p < .05) fewer changcs in the head region than did the females. Sex differences for ranks of other body sectors were not significant. These results completely reaffirm the differences between males and females originally reported by Fisher ( 1964) . REFERENCES 1. FISHER, S. Sex differences in body perception. Psychological Monographs, 1964, 78, No. 14 (Whole No. 5 9 1 ) . 2. FISHER, S., & RICHTER, J. selective effects o f the menstrual experience upon aniseikonic body perceprion. Psychoromatic Medicine, 1969, 31, 367-371. 3. UDDENBERG, N., & HAKANSON, M. Aniseikonic body perception in pregnancy. lournu/ of Prychosoma~ic Medicine, 1972, 16, 179-184. 4. WI'ITREICH, W. J., & RADCLIFFE, K. B. The influence of simulated mutilation upon the perception of the human figure. Journal o f Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1955, 51,493-495. Accepted November 14, 1973.