An investigation into the role of selective attention and rumination in eating disorder symptomatology

The four studies comprising this thesis collectively highlight the maladaptive role of both attentional bias towards thin-ideal bodies and eating disorder-specific rumination in psychopathology. One particularly important finding was that attentional bias toward thin-ideal bodies plays a causal role in negative emotional vulnerability, which is an implicated risk factor for eating disorders. Additionally, the present research revealed that inducing eating disorder-specific rumination served to increase this maladaptive bias of attending to thin-ideal bodies. Taken together, these findings suggest that cognitively-focused strategies which target rumination and/or attention may help promote emotional resilience and ultimately protect against the development of eating disorders.