The Influence Of Print Advertisement And Social Comparison Tendency And Self-affirmation On Undergraduate’s State Body Image

The research includes two related experiments, to survey the influence of print advertisement and social comparison tendency and self-affirmation on undergraduate’s body image. Experiment 1 was adopted 2×2×2(print advertisement × social comparison × gender) three factors random experimental design, experimental materials were the advertisement showcasing a model and a product, The aim of experiment 1 was to explore the influence of print advertisement and social comparison tendency on undergraduate’s body image. Based on Experiment 1, Experiment 2 was adopted 2×2(self-affirmation × gender) two factors random experimental design, using the sort of writing task paradigm of self-affirmation, to survey the influence of self-affirmation on undergraduate’s body image, after watching the advertisement showcasing a model, which the undergraduate was high social comparison tendency. The conclusions of the research are as followings: ⑴Print advertisement, especially the advertisement showcasing a model has negative effects on the undergraduates’ state body image, which leads to the decrease of the undergraduates’ state body image.⑵Compared to low social comparison tendency, the undergraduates of high social comparison tendency was more vulnerable to the negative impact of the print advertisement, so high social comparison tendency has a higher decreasing extent of the undergraduates’ state body image. ⑶Compared to the male college student, the female college student was more vulnerable to the negative impact of the print advertisement, so the female college student has a higher decreasing extent of state body image. ⑷Self-affirmation can improve state body image of the undergraduate of high social comparison tendency, and this effect is more obvious to female college students.