Don't take another bite: how sociocultural norms for appearance affect women's eating behavior.
Four studies tested the impact of exposure to thin images on women's eating behavior. In Study 1, women who were exposed to commercials containing thin models ate less in a taste test than women exposed to neutral commercials. The next two studies revealed that the impact of the thin images could be reduced by challenging the sociocultural norms for appearance. In Study 2, including images of relatively heavier women who have been successful in life (an indirect challenge to the norm) attenuated the impact of the thin images on women's eating behavior. Study 3 demonstrated that convincing women that their peers do not endorse the sociocultural norms also reduced the impact of the thin images. In Study 4, we found that exposure to thin images led to activation of an association between heaviness and rejection and that the more this association was activated, the less participants ate.
Strahan
Erin J
EJ
Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford Campus, 73 George Street, Brantford, Ont., Canada N3T 2Y3. estrahan@wlu.ca
Spencer
Steven J
SJ
Zanna
Mark P
MP
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising; D001504:Beauty; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D004038:Diet, Reducing / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008402:Mass Media; D009042:Motivation; D050177:Overweight; D010379:Peer Group; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011936:Reality Testing; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012925:Social Conformity; D012933:Social Identification; D012945:Social Values; D013649:Taste; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology