Differences in the variability of the judgements of body shape were studied in anorexic, bulimic, obese, and control subjects. The judgements of control subjects were found to be more accurate and less variable than those of the clinical groups, and the distribution of their scores was leptokurtic and almost symmetrical compared with the clinical groups' distributions of scores which were platykurtic and positively skewed. More clinical subjects than controls both underestimated or overestimated their body sizes by 15% or more. Significantly more variability was found among the scores of bulimics than anorexics and among the scores of the obese than the anorexics, but not between the obese and the bulimics, who showed the greatest variability of all. The results are discussed in terms of their consistency with other research findings and their significance for treatment.

The effect of hypnosis on the relationship between confidence and accuracy of memory reports is examined. Specifically, the article reviews experimental research that has measured subjects' confidence in their hypnotically influenced memory reports. The findings of this research are discussed in terms of the factors that increase confidence without affecting accuracy, and the factors that decrease accuracy without affecting confidence. The article argues that both the experiential and social factors associated with hypnosis potentially reduce the correspondence between confidence and accuracy of memory. Finally, the article specifies the major implications for further theoretical and empirical work on hypnotic memory and confident reporting.Hypnosis can be descriptively defined as a social interaction in which one person, the subject, experiences alterations in perception, memory, or voluntary behaviour in response to specific suggestions that are given by another person, the hypnotist (Kihlstrom, 1985). Perhaps because of the apparent utility of hypnosis in the clinical setting, there has been an increased use of hypnosis in the forensic setting to obtain memory reports from victims and eyewitnesses of crime (Orne, Soskis, Dinges and Orne, 1984). The questions that have arisen from this particular application of hypnosis have stimulated a substantial amount of theoretical and empirical attention on the issues involved when hypnosis is used to influence memory (e.g. Mingay, 1987;Orne et al., 1984;Pettinati, 1988;Smith, 1983).One issue that has received relatively little focused attention, however, is the extent to which an individual's confidence in the accuracy of his or her memory may be altered when hypnosis is used to refresh that memory. In this article we review relevant experimental research that has been conducted on this issue, then integrate the findings of this research into a theoretical perspective on confidence and accuracy of memory, and finally specify the major implications for further theoretical and empirical work on hypnotic memory and confident reporting. The article uses theoretical concepts from outside the area of hypnosis to provide a framework for understanding existing data, and to guide suggestions for future research.

Two studies concerned with the method involved in video distortion of body image are reported. In the first, 40 students were asked to estimate their body contours on a TV monitor with and without the benefit of facial cues. In the second, 15 anorectic patients and 15 matched controls were studied under two conditions of dress: with figure‐hugging leotards or with loose clothing. The findings suggest that to reduce variability in studies of body image, information about the face and body contours should be available.