Shaping attitudes toward body-related cues via evaluative conditioning: investigating the roles of social comparison and self-esteem

Evaluative conditioning (EC) is a mechanism through which attitudes toward neutral stimuli can be shaped by pairing them with positive or negative cues. Despite growing evidence for its role in attitude formation, little is known about whether EC can effectively modify body-related evaluations and how individual dispositions may moderate these effects. The present study examined whether neutral geometric figures (CS) would become more positive in valence and liking when paired with body images differing in weight status (average-weight vs. obese). A total of N = 146 participants completed baseline ratings of neutral CS, underwent an EC task pairing CS with average-weight or obese body images, and provided post-conditioning evaluations along with measures of self-esteem and body, eating and exercise-related social comparison (BEECOM). Results showed that CS paired with average-weight bodies increased significantly in both valence and liking, whereas obese-paired CS showed no significant change. Critically, social comparison tendency moderated overall responsiveness to conditioning: participants low in BEECOM showed significant increases in liking across conditions, whereas high-BEECOM participants showed no change. Neither variable moderated the specific differential conditioning effect between pairing conditions. Self-esteem did not moderate conditioning effects. Exploratory analyses revealed no evidence that conditioning altered perceptual judgments of stimulus size. Findings highlight the importance of individual differences in social comparison as determinants of conditioning responsiveness in the body image domain.