Psychophysical Studies of Body-Image: I. The Adjustable Body-Distorting Mirror

Though broadly applied within the context of psychological, psychiatric, and neurological theory, the concept of body-image (body schema, postural model of the body, perceived body, body ego, body boundaries etc) has neither been satisfactorily defined^6,14,30 nor rigorously measured in the clinic or laboratory. In its most literal sense, body-image refers to "the picture of our own body which we form in our mind, that is to say, the way in which the body appears to ourselves."²⁸ Freud conceptualized the body-image as fundamental to the development of the ego which in turn is regarded as a "mental projection" of the sensations stemming from the surface of the body.¹⁵ In modern psychiatric parlance, body-image appears to include both the surface, depth, and postural picture of the body on the one hand, and on the other, the attitudes, emotions, and personality reactions of the individual