Exposure to Images on Social Media
Start Date
29-4-2022 2:15 PM
Location
Alter Hall Poster Session 1 - 3rd floor
Abstract
In 2015, an Australian adolescent, Essena O’Neill, made international headlines for her decision to quit social media (Hunt, 2015). Despite being a social media star, with over half a million Instagram followers, O’Neill rebelled against inauthentic images of herself and recaptioned some of her Instagram photos, critiquing the staged and contrived nature of the photos, and noting society’s harmful focus on women’s appearance. O’Neill’s departure from social media went viral, and public discussions erupted around the idealized nature of photos on social media, and the harmful effects such photos have women’s body concerns (Gerson, 2015; Hunt, 2015). In fact, a growing body of research reveals that social media usage is positively associated with body dissatisfaction among women (Fardouly & Vartanian, 2016; Holland & Tiggemann, 2016), and that viewing edited (i.e., idealized) images on social media can be harmful for women’s body image (Brown & Tiggemann, 2016; Cohen & Blaszczynski, 2015; Kleemans et al., 2018; McComb & Mills, 2021; Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Despite the growing body of evidence supporting the claim that edited (i.e., idealized) photos of women affect their body image, more research is needed on the conditions under which edited photos pose the most (or least) concern. The current study examined how exposure to edited photos of the face or face and body impact college-aged females’ body image, self-esteem, perceived importance of exercise, and implicit weight biases. Participants were exposed to an edited or unedited photo of a young woman’s face or face and body and then completed various questionnaires. Results revealed no significant main or interaction effects, suggesting – in the current sample of college women – edited photos have no effect on outcomes.
Exposure to Images on Social Media
Alter Hall Poster Session 1 - 3rd floor
In 2015, an Australian adolescent, Essena O’Neill, made international headlines for her decision to quit social media (Hunt, 2015). Despite being a social media star, with over half a million Instagram followers, O’Neill rebelled against inauthentic images of herself and recaptioned some of her Instagram photos, critiquing the staged and contrived nature of the photos, and noting society’s harmful focus on women’s appearance. O’Neill’s departure from social media went viral, and public discussions erupted around the idealized nature of photos on social media, and the harmful effects such photos have women’s body concerns (Gerson, 2015; Hunt, 2015). In fact, a growing body of research reveals that social media usage is positively associated with body dissatisfaction among women (Fardouly & Vartanian, 2016; Holland & Tiggemann, 2016), and that viewing edited (i.e., idealized) images on social media can be harmful for women’s body image (Brown & Tiggemann, 2016; Cohen & Blaszczynski, 2015; Kleemans et al., 2018; McComb & Mills, 2021; Tiggemann & Zaccardo, 2015). Despite the growing body of evidence supporting the claim that edited (i.e., idealized) photos of women affect their body image, more research is needed on the conditions under which edited photos pose the most (or least) concern. The current study examined how exposure to edited photos of the face or face and body impact college-aged females’ body image, self-esteem, perceived importance of exercise, and implicit weight biases. Participants were exposed to an edited or unedited photo of a young woman’s face or face and body and then completed various questionnaires. Results revealed no significant main or interaction effects, suggesting – in the current sample of college women – edited photos have no effect on outcomes.
