The Generality of Individual Differences in the Estimation of Size

Abstract

These two studies pursued the notion that there are individual differences of considerable generality in the extent to which individuals estimate the size of objects, including body image and physical objects such as a blank card. In the first study, 79 female undergraduate students estimated the width of their own bodies (head, shoulders, waist, and hips), the waist of a standard “real” person, the bodies of two life-size wooden figures, and three boxes. In the second study, 60 female undergraduate students estimated the width of their bodies, three boxes, and two blank cards. Errors in estimation, computed as the difference between estimate and true value divided by the true value, were obtained from all subjects. Correlations between body-image errors and all other errors in estimation were positive in both studies, except for one correlation of --- .02. Factor analyses of the correlations between the error scores in each study indicated a substantial general factor, although some residual common variance remained. Results supported the proposition that individuals differ in a consistent fashion across a wide range of size-estimation situations.