The Effect Of Thin-ideal Pictures On Body Satisfaction Of Women With Fat Negative Physical Self Who Were Self-activated

In recent years, more and more studies in western countries began to focus on the individual factors and environmental factors which were related to body dissatisfaction in depth and drew the conclusion that three factors of sociocultural affected the formation and development of body dissatisfaction: parents, peers and the mass media. From the perspective of mass media would this paper explorer the effects of thin-ideal pictures on body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self who were under self-activation condition and the mediation role of social comparison with thin-ideal pictures between general self-activation and body satisfaction.On the one hand, the studies in the field of self-activation had found that the manipulation of general self-activation on individuals could increase their social comparison tendency with people around or the thin-ideal pictures presented on the mass media. On the other hand, the studies in the field of social comparison had found that higher tendency of social comparison could cause the decrease of body satisfaction. So, could activating the cognition related to the self directly lead to the influence on body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self after exposure to thin-ideal pictures? What is the influence of positive and negative self-activation on body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self after exposure to thin-ideal pictures? Moreover, is the influence of general self-activation on body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self after exposure to thin-ideal pictures realized through the mediator variable of social comparison with thin-ideal pictures? The present thesis would investigate the problems above-mentioned through three concrete studies. We hypothesized that thin-ideal pictures only had significantly negative effects on women with fat negative physical self who were under general self-activation condition; positive and negative self-activation influenced body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self differently after exposure to thin-ideal pictures. Specifically, positive self-activation could increase body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self after exposure to thin-ideal pictures, negative self-activation, however, could decrease that of women with fat negative physical self. Furthermore, we also hypothesized that social comparison with thin-ideal pictures tended to mediate the influence of general self-activation on body dissatisfaction.In study1,85female college-age students were selected as participants randomly, including41women as fat negative physical self and44women as controls. All participants were randomly assigned to either general self-activation condition or control condition before viewing thin-ideal pictures. Finally, the effect of general self-activation on body satisfaction after exposure to thin-ideal pictures were discussed through analyzing the changes of body satisfaction of participants before and after the manipulation of general self-activation.Study2selected90women with fat negative physical self as participants, all participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions as followings:positive self-activation condition, negative self-activation or control condition. Then they were exposed to32thin-ideal pictures after accepting different types of self-activation condition. Finally, the effect of positive and negative self-activation on body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self after exposure to thin-ideal pictures were discussed through analyzing the changes of body satisfaction of participants before and after the manipulation of different types of self-activation.In study3,86female college-age students were selected as participants, including44women as fat negative physical self and42women as controls. After being accepted general self-activation manipulation or control condition manipulation, participants were exposed to32thin-ideal pictures on a computer screen. Finally, the mediating role of social comparison between general self-activation and body satisfaction were examined through analyzing the intensity of social comparison and the changes of body satisfaction of participants before and after the manipulation of self-activation.The results based on the three studies were as follows:(1) thin-ideal pictures only had significantly negative effects on women with fat negative physical self who were under general self-activation condition.(2) Positive and negative self-activation influence body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self differently after exposure to thin-ideal pictures. Specifically, body shape satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self increased in positive self-activation condition and decreased in negative self-activation condition after exposure to thin-ideal pictures, while those in the neutral self-activation condition remained unchanged. However, only weight satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self in negative self-activation condition decreased significantly after exposure to thin-ideal pictures, while participants in positive and neutral self-activation condition were immune to exposure.(3) Social comparison with thin-ideal pictures was the partial mediating variable between general self-activation and dissatisfaction.The present study investigated the effects of thin-ideal pictures on body satisfaction of women with negative physical self from the perspective of mass media based on sociocultural model theory which related to body satisfaction. This thesis extended the theoretical research of body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self, providing primary theoretical support that the future study could decrease the negative effects of thin-ideal pictures on body satisfaction of women with fat negative physical self through inhibiting self-awareness or decreasing the tendency of social comparison with individuals around or thin-ideal information presented on mass media.