title: Breaking the circle: challenging Western sociocultural norms for appearance influences young women's attention to appearance-related media.
abstract: Paying attention to thin media models may negatively affect women's self-evaluation. This study aimed to reduce the amount of attention that young women give to appearance-related information by challenging the sociocultural norms for appearance, and studied the moderating role of self-esteem. Seventy-one college women either received norm-confirming, norm-challenging, or no information regarding the sociocultural norms for appearance. Subsequently, participants' visual attention to appearance-related and neutral advertisements was measured using an eye-tracker. The results demonstrate that when no information or norm-confirming information was received, women with lower self-esteem paid more attention to the appearance-related advertisements than women with higher self-esteem. Importantly however, when norm-challenging information was received, women with lower self-esteem paid significantly less attention to the appearance-related ads than women with lower self-esteem who did not receive this manipulation. These findings indicate that challenging the sociocultural norms for appearance can attenuate the amount of attention women give to appearance-related media.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. i.mischner@pwo.ru.nl
authors.forename: Isabelle H S
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Mischner
authors.forename: Hein T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: van Schie
authors.forename: Rutger C M E
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Engels
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising; D001288:Attention; D001290:Attitude; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D009426:Netherlands; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012649:Self Concept; D012945:Social Values; D013851:Thinness; D055815:Young Adult