The Judged Body

Emotions, Embodied Cognition, and Educational Contexts of Body Shaming

Abstract

This contribution presents the results of a study that explored body shaming as an embodied experience capable of involving, at the same time, bodily dimension, emotional regulation, cognitive processes, and identity construction within educational and relational contexts. The research – from an interdisciplinary psycho-pedagogical perspective – was conducted through an online questionnaire administered to a sample of 1,014 persons, 58% of participants reported having experienced episodes of body shaming. The contribution will focus on the emotional reactions associated with episodes of body shaming, measured through a Likert scale structured around 11 emotions. The results show a predominance of experiences connected to humiliation, shame, sadness, and devaluation of the bodily self, highlighting how judgment directed at the body acts not only on the relational level, but also on processes of emotional self-regulation, social participation, and engagement within learning contexts. From an embodied perspective, body shaming emerges as a practice of social normativity that transforms the body into a device of symbolic and cognitive control, influencing the way students inhabit educational spaces, perceive themselves, and construct their own presence within learning processes. The findings suggest the need to design emotionally safe, multimodal, and inclusive educational environments capable of integrating body, emotion, and learning within a transformative psycho-pedagogical perspective.