Think 'thin' and feel bad: the role of appearance schema activation, attention level, and thin-ideal internalization for young women's responses to ultra-thin media ideals

By Amy Brown, H. Dittmar. 2005

151 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract This study extends previous demonstrations that thin media models have a negative impact on young women’s body image by examining howthis effect occurs. In addition to thin–ideal internalization, shown to moderate this impact (Dittmar & Howard, 2004; Halliwell & Dittmar, 2004a), it investigates two further factors not previously explored together: first, the level of attention at which women process thin images and, second, appearance schema activation as an underlying process that mediates the exposure–anxiety link. Seventy-five women were exposed to either neutral advertisements (no models) or to thin models, at either low or high attention, manipulated by exposure time (10 s vs. 150 ms) and focus instructions. Thin models increase weight–related anxiety to the extent that women internalize the thin ideal, but anxiety is heightened further under conditions of high attention. These two effects are independent, and only the first is mediated fully by appearance schema activation. Research and int...

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Marketing

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0c63d939794d58adc40d7b8d88eefa8a0b35e2c9

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Clinical Psychology

1. H. Dittmar
2. C. Ferguson
3. Soyeon Ahn
4. Qian Huang
5. Wei Peng
6. S. Grabe
7. L. Monique Ward
8. Janet S. Hyde

In Marketing

1. H. Dittmar
2. C. Ferguson
3. Soyeon Ahn
4. Qian Huang
5. Wei Peng
6. Janet S. Hyde
7. S. Grabe
8. L. Monique Ward

Citations in the corpus

• In the eye of the beholder: Thin-ideal media affects some, but not most, viewers in a meta-analytic review of body dissatisfaction in women and men. (2013, background): “…Vol. 2, No. 1, 20–37 2160-4134/13/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0030766 20 provide evidence for links between thin-ideal media and body dissatisfaction (e.g., Brown & Dittmar, 2005; Cash, Cash, & Butters, 1983; Harper & Tiggerman, 2008; Hawkins, Richards, Granley, & Stein, 2004; Wegner, Hartmann, &…”
• Body Objectification, Social Pressure, and Disordered Eating Behavior in College Women: The Role of Sorority Membership (2007, background): “…to indicate group membership.1 The average body mass index (BMI) of the sample was found to be within the average range for college-aged women (Brown & Dittmar, 2005), with no difference across groups: sorority women (M = 21.28, SD = 1.70), nonsorority women (M = 21.48, SD = 1.87), and…”
• When media become the mirror: a meta-analysis on media and body image (2020, background): “Nevertheless, studies using experimental design may not be able to capture the chronic effects that people experience on a daily basis (Brown & Dittmar, 2005).”
• The role of the media in body image concerns among women: a meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. (2008, background): “, & Brown, L. B. (2002). The relationship between reading beauty and fashion magazines and the use of pathogenic dieting methods among adolescent females. Adolescence, 37, 1–18. *Thornton, B., & Maurice, J. (1997). Physique contrast effect: Adverse impact of idealized body images for women.”
• The Costs of Consumer Culture and the “Cage Within”: The Impact of the Material “Good Life” and “Body Perfect” Ideals on Individuals” Identity and Well-Being (2007, background): “For example, exposure to advertisements featuring thin female models makes certain groups of women feel more anxious about their own bodies, even when they see these images only fleetingly and do not pay much attention to them (Brown and Dittmar, 2005).”