title: Thinspiration: Self-Improvement Versus Self-Evaluation Social Comparisons with Thin-Ideal Media Portrayals.
abstract: Much research has demonstrated negative impacts of idealized-body imagery exposure on body satisfaction. Yet, paradoxically, media with such imagery attract mass audiences. Few studies showed women's body satisfaction increased due to thin-ideal exposure. The kind of social comparison women engage in (self-evaluation vs. self-improvement) may explain these inconsistent findings and the paradoxical attraction to thin-ideal messages. Across 5 days, thin-ideal messages were presented to 51 women; self-evaluation and self-improvement social comparisons as well as body satisfaction were measured each day. A linear positive change in body satisfaction emerged. Greater self-improvement social comparisons increased this change, whereas greater self-evaluation social comparisons reduced it. Extent of both social comparison types changed during the prolonged exposure. A greater tendency to compare one's body with others' improved body satisfaction through self-improvement social comparisons and fostered weight-loss behaviors through self-evaluation social comparisons.
authors.affiliation: a School of Communication , Ohio State University.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knobloch-Westerwick
mesh_terms: D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012938:Social Perception; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology*; D015431:Weight Loss; D055815:Young Adult