Women’s and Men’s Eating Behavior Following Exposure to Ideal-Body Images and Text

Abstract

Two experiments tested the effects of exposure to ideal-body images and text on young adults’ eating behavior. Women viewed slides depicting images of slender female models with no text, with diet- and exercise-related (congruent) text, with irrelevant (incongruent) text, or no slides (control). Men viewed slides depicting images of muscular male models in the same four conditions. Among women with a discrepancy between perceptions of their actual body and the body their same-gender peers believe they ought to have, exposure to images alone and images plus congruent text led to a reduction in the amount eaten in front of female peers. Among men with the same discrepancy, exposure to images alone and images plus congruent text led to an increase in the amount eaten in front of male peers. The distinctions between ideal-body images and text as stimuli, and between male and female eating behaviors as self-presentational strategies, are considered in the discussion.

Do Third-Person Perceptions of Media Influence Contribute to Pluralistic Ignorance on the Norm of Ideal Female Thinness?

“…And the underlying mechanisms of the psychological process have been explored by employing various theories that include social comparison theory (e.g., Botta 1999;Wilcox and Laird 2000), cultivation (e.g., Henderson-King et al 2001), social cognitive theory (e.g. Harrison 2000;Harrison and Cantor 1997), and self-discrepancy theory (e.g., Harrison et al 2006).…”

Schönheitssoziologie - ein Überblick

“…z.B. Harrison et al 2006;Park 2005). Längsschnittstudien, die an und für sich wünschenswert wären, legen zumeist ein so kleines Sample zu Grunde, dass die externe Validität der Ergebnisse anzuzweifeln ist (vgl.…”

Fiction, Fashion, and Function: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Gendered Body Image, Part I

“…Yet, while qualitative and quantitative differences in how women and men experience body image have been illustrated in the psychological literature (Feingold and Mazzella 1998;Franzoi 1995;Frederick et al 2007;Frederick et al 2006;Grogan 2008;Harrison et al 2006;Muth and Cash 1997;Ricciardelli and McCabe 2001), less research is available that investigates why men and women or boys and girls differ (or not) in their bodily perceptions, feelings, and behaviors.…”