Effect of Exposure to Media Images on Perceptual Body Image Distortion and Affective Dissatisfaction

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Effect of Exposure to Media Images on Perceptual
Body Image Distortion and Affective
Dissatisfaction

• Angie French Blair Terrell
• Hanover College

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Research Question
What is the perfect woman? (Nichter Nichter,
1991) - 57, 100 lbs,- long blonde hair -
blue eyes

• How does exposure to these images influence how
  women feel about themselves and their bodies?
• Perceptual distortion
• Social Comparison (comparison of self to
  others)

Most fashion models meet weight criteria for
anorexia nervosa. (Kalodner, 1997)
Media is everywhere!
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Hypothesis
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• Participants
• 49 female students from Hanover College
• Mean age 19
• 48 Caucasian
• 1 Pacific Islander

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• Phase 1
• Two weeks prior to Phase 2
• Social Comparison questionnaire and personal
  information
• Frequency of Social Comparison Scale
• (Fujita, 1996)
• Determines how prone an individual is to compare
  herself to others
• Alpha .90
• Anonymity protectioncode
• Street name last 4 digits from SSN

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• Phase 2
• PowerPoint slide show of 30 fitness,
  fashion/beauty, or neutral images from popular
  magazines
• Selection criteria
• --Only one model per image
• --3/4 length body shot
• --no overlaid type
• --no product shown
• (criteria from Waller, Hamilton, Shaw, 1992)

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Fitness
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Fashion/Beauty
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Neutral
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• Adjustable Light Beam Apparatus
• (Thompson Spana, 1988)
• Measures perceived size of cheeks, waist, and
  hips

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• Actual body size measure

• Perceptual distortion discrepancy
  between perceived and actual body size of cheeks,
  waist, and hips
• (Alpha .8697)

• Eating Disorders Inventory
• (Garner, Olmstead, Polivy, 1983)
• Drive for Thinness scale
• Body Dissatisfaction scale
• Alpha .9351

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Results Does media exposure influence perceptual
distortion?
Exposure to Media Images of the Sociocultural
Ideal
Perceptual Body Image Distortion
Increased Affective Body Image Dissatisfaction
Social Comparison
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YESPerceptual Distortion

• Amount of distortion varied significantly across
  three conditions, F (1,45) 3.24, p lt .05
• The only post hoc comparison that was significant
  was between beauty and neutral, p lt .05.
• Supports previous research ? Exposure to beauty
  images increases distortion

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Results
Dissatisfaction does not correlate with
distortion
Exposure to Media Images of the Sociocultural
Ideal
Perceptual Body Image Distortion
Increased Affective Body Image Dissatisfaction
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Results cont.

• Split Social Comparison into Low and
  High categories.
• Significant interaction found between social
  comparison and media condition (F (5, 42) 2.77,
  p .03).
• The only significant difference between the means
  was found in fitness condition (t (15) 2.4, p
  .03).

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Discussion

• Two media conditions ? different effects
• Beauty images influence perception (distortion)
• Fitness images influence emotion
  (dissatisfaction)

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Fitness ? Dissatisfaction

• Message behind the fitness images
• Idea of achievability
• But is it really achievable?
• Exposure ? GUILT ? Dissatisfaction

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(No Transcript)
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Beauty ? Distortion

• Beauty images thinner than fitness images
• Less guilt because only option of attainability
  is to take drastic, unhealthy measures (e.g.,
  drug use, eating disorder)

Average woman
fitness
beauty
Weight
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• Limitations

• Non-representative sample
• 48 Caucasian 1 Pacific Islander
• Homemade equipment
• Interrater reliability

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Questions