This study investigated the pluralistic ignorance on the norm of ideal female thinness and also the presumed influence of thin idealized media images as the cause of the misperception. A survey of 111 female and 109 male US undergraduate students revealed that both women and men overestimated the thinness of body type preferred by others. In addition, men reported that others would be more affected by the media than self while women considered themselves to be as vulnerable as others. Subsequent regression analyses demonstrated that the difference in the perceived media influence on self and others was a significant predictor of the norm of ideal female thinness. Similar misperceptions were also found between men and women in dating relationships.

This study explored an intervention of body image disturbance by employing short educational messages. A public service announcement (PSA) comprised of a realistic body image photo and a text emphasizing genetic diversity of body types improved young women's body satisfaction, although it did not affect the size of ideal femalebody norm. A variation of the PSA, an alignment ad, generated a similarly positive effect on body satisfaction. The alignment ad, in comparison to a control, also increased the size of ideal female-body norm. At the same time, these positive main effects were mostly due to the gains in body satisfaction and the size of ideal female-body norm by women whose body satisfaction was relatively undamaged to begin with. For women who were already suffering from low body satisfaction, the educational messages interacted with the predisposition to further deteriorate body satisfaction and the norm of ideal female body. Theoretical implications of these effects were discussed and practical suggestions were made for healthy body image advocates.