Professor Martin Tovee

Professor

Department: Psychology

My research focuses on the problem of body image dysfunction in Eating Disordered patients. People with Eating Disorders usually exhibit strong concerns about their weight and tend to overestimate their body size. This body image dysfunction is a key diagnostic feature in both Anorexia and Bulimia, and plays an important role in the aetiology and maintenance of these conditions. By understanding both the perceptual and psychological factors in how people assess their bodies, we hope to develop new strategies to improve the treatment of these conditions.

My research also explores human mate selection and the perception of physical attractiveness in an evolutionary psychology context. One of the most fundamental problems for any organism is mate selection. In evolutionary terms it is important that we are sensitive to the physical cues that honestly signal that one individual is more desirable (i.e. fitter and with a better reproductive potential) than another, and use these cues to choose the partner who is most likely to enhance our chances of successful reproduction. My research has focussed on the visual cues on which these judgements are based, and how environment and context may alter these judgements.

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Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Adaptation and Validation of the MapMe Body Image Scales in Spanish Parents of Schoolchildren, Inclan-Lopez, P., Martinez-Andres, M., Jones, A., Tovée, M., Adamson, A., Bartolome-Gutierrez, R. 8 Apr 2024, In: Children
Cultural Predictors of Facial Ethnicity Preference in the Miskitu and Mestizos of Rural Nicaragua, Jucker, J., Thornborrow, T., Batres, C., Penton-Voak, I., Jamieson, M., Burt, D., Bowie, W., Tovée, M., Boothroyd, L. 1 Apr 2024, In: Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Determinants of Child Body Weight Categorisation in Parents and Health Care Professionals: An Experimental Study, Evans, E., Ridley-Gamble, B., Cornelissen, P., Kramer, R., Araújo-Soares, V., Tovee, M. 25 Oct 2024, In: British Journal of Health Psychology
Evidence for a specific distortion in perceptual body image in eating disorders: a replication and extension, Brokjøb, L., Cornelissen, P., Gumančík, J., McCarty, K., Tovée, M., Cornelissen, K. 30 Oct 2024, In: PLoS One
Personal ideal, cultural ideal and optimal attractiveness: Are these constructs for body size and shape the same or different?, Ridley, B., Cornelissen, P., Maalin, N., Mohamed, S., Kramer, R., McCarty, K., Tovée, M. 14 Jun 2024, In: Body Image
Sample characteristics for quantitative analyses in Body Image: Issues of generalisability, Pollet, T., Bovet, J., Buhaenko, R., Cornelissen, P., Tovee, M. 1 Jun 2024, In: Body Image
Testing the validity of online psychophysical measurement of body image perception, Gumančík, J., Cornelissen, P., Brokjøb, L., Ridley-Gamble, B., McCarty, K., Tovee, M., Cornelissen, K. 10 Jun 2024, In: PLoS One
The MapMe Body Scales: Validity and Reliability of a Biometrically Accurate, Photorealistic Set of Child Body Size Scales, Ridley, B., Evans, E., Cornelissen, P., Kramer, R., Tovee, M. 16 Oct 2024, In: Children
A Randomised Control Trial Investigating the Efficacy of the MapMe Intervention on Parental Ability to Correctly Categorise Overweight in Their Child and the Impact on Child BMI Z-Score Change at 1 Year, Jones, A., Mann, K., Cutler, L., Pearce, M., Tovée, M., Ells, L., Araujo-Soares, V., Arnott, B., Harris, J., Adamson, A. 21 Sep 2023, In: Children
How do looking patterns, anti-fat bias, and causal weight attributions relate to adults’ judgements of child weight?, Evans, E., Tovée, M., Hancock, P., Cornelissen, P. 1 Mar 2023, In: Body Image

PGR Supervision

Bethany Ridley-Gamble Developing an intervention for childhood obesity Start Date: 01/10/2021 End Date: 25/10/2024

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