The objective measurement of body image using a video technique: Reliability and validity studies

• Published in: The British journal of psychology Vol. 77; no. 2; pp. 199 - 205
• Main Author: Collins, J. K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.1986; British Psychological Society; Cambridge University Press
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Methodology. Experimentation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics. Statistics. Methodology; Human; Test validation; Technique; Body image; Video recording
• ISSN: 0007-1269; 2044-8295
• DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1986.tb01994.x

A method for the objective measurement of the conscious aspects of body image is described with data on reliability and validity. Essentially it involved photographing subjects and scanning the photograph with a video‐camera. The subject adjusts a control which varies the images on the television monitor to give a representative continuum from endomorphy through mesomorphy to ectomorphy without distorting height. A permanent record of the accuracy of the judgement and of the judgement time is registered on a pen recorder as impulses from the control are relayed when the subject adjusts the control dial. Test‐retest reliability and validity are discussed using control and clinical subjects.