Guwahati, Feb. 3 -- Viren Swami, Anglia Ruskin University

These days it's hard to miss the body positivity movement. But love and respect for the body isn't new and wasn't invented by the west. Indeed, global research I've collaborated on has found that body appreciation is understood and experienced the same way all over the world - even if we did find large differences in levels of body appreciation between different countries.

But first, it's important to understand what body image and body appreciation mean in psychology.

Body image is the "inside view" that you have of yourself. Historically, body image research was focused on negative aspects, such as appearance anxiety or clinical conditions including body dysmorphic disorder. O...