Using the Stroop Test to Indicate Levels of Muscle Dysmorphia in Men

Muscle dysmorphia a disorder in which a person obsesses over not being muscular enough. The purpose of the current study is to discover whether the Stroop Test can be used to find symptoms of muscle dysmorphia. Participants first fill out a demographics questionnaire. Then they completed a task using E-Prime computer software. Participants are presented with a group of neutral and bodyrelated words in blue, green, yellow, or orange. They indicated the color of the word by pressing the first letter of the color on the keyboard. The reaction time, as well as the number of errors, is measured. Muscle dysmorphia symptoms were also analyzed by having participants complete a short muscle dysmorphia questionnaire. It was hypothesized that participants with higher levels of muscle dysmorphia would have slower reaction times and commit more errors than participants with low levels of muscle dysmorphia. Results revealed that all of the participants responded quickest to body words, followed by neutral words, and lastly, color words. This may have been due to flaws in the methodology of the study, specifically the use of a nonclinical sample.