The body positivity movement—celebrating bodies beyond the thin ideal—has gained traction on social media. In an online study of North American women, we aimed to determine how ideal body perceptions shift based on the presentation of more diverse body types. In Study 1, women (n = 115, aged 19–75) responded to arrays of bodies ranging from primarily small to primarily large bodies, selecting the body closest to their ideal body. Results showed that the BMI of the ideal body increased as the body sizes in the array increased. Participants were also less likely to select an underweight ideal when viewing larger bodies. In Study 2, women responded to arrays with either primarily small (n = 132, aged 20–68) or primarily large (n = 130, aged 20–75) bodies. Results suggested that ideal body perceptions only shifted around current societal standards, and not to extremes. The participants presented with the larger-bodied arrays were more likely to select a normal weight ideal body than those who saw the smaller-bodied arrays. Results suggest ideal body size is malleable, and shifting toward a more diverse perception of the ideal body is achievable with increased exposure beyond the thin ideal.

积极的身体运动-超越理想的身体-在社交媒体上获得了关注。在一项针对北美女性的在线研究中，我们旨在根据多种身体类型的呈现来确定理想的身体观念如何发生变化。在研究1中，女性（n = 115，年龄19-75岁）对从小到大的一系列身体做出了反应，选择了最接近理想身体的身体。结果表明，理想人体的BMI随着阵列中人体尺寸的增加而增加。在查看较大的物体时，参与者也不太可能选择体重不足的理想状态。在研究2中，女性对阵列的反应主要是小（n = 132，年龄20-68岁）或大（n= 130，年龄在20-75岁之间）。结果表明，理想的身体知觉只在当前的社会标准上转移，而没有极端。与观察者相比，体形较大的参与者比那些体形较小的参与者更有可能选择正常体重的理想身体。结果表明，理想的身体尺寸是可延展的，并且通过增加暴露于瘦身之外的目标，可以朝着对理想身体的更多样化的感知转变。