Overweight misconceptions and self-concept A psychosocial study of adolescents

Chapter 1 Introduction and Review of Literature The past century has seen various developments in the area of body image. Researchers and scholars from psychological, medical and sociological perspectives have made numerous attempts to theorize and understand the human embodiment experience of body image from various perspectives. Consequently, body image has come to be viewed as multidimensional construct, encompassing concepts like body esteem, body dissatisfaction, body image, weight misperceptions, body distortion, and many more. Researchers expressed particular interest in body weight estimation and perception. Weight perception and misperception has been found to be an important determinant of body dissatisfaction. The period of adolescence is characterized by major physical and psychological changes, resulting in identity development and independence (Erikson, 1968; Cheung, Ip, Lam, & Bibby, 2007). Researchers have found vulnerabilities in identity or selfconcept during these formative years, predisposes the adolescent to body image disturbances. The current study makes an attempt to understand the relationship between these self-concept vulnerabilities, weight perceptions, and body shape dissatisfaction. The current chapter makes an attempt to elucidate the various theoretic perspectives of body image along with various research findings on weight misperception, body dissatisfaction, and the relationship of self-concept with these two variables. 1.1 A brief history of body image Dating back to 1903, body image only focused on self-image of individuals with mental retardation and brain damage. The neuropathological forms of body image experience were the areas of interest like "phantom limb", "autotopagnosia", "hemiasomatognosia," and "anosognosia" (Fisher, 1990). Interest in psychology and sociology of body image only emerged with the works of Paul Schilder in the first half of the 20th century. He described body image as "picture of our own body which,