TEL T 192 1st Edition Lecture 7 Outline of Last Lecture I The Women of Fiji II An Important Distinction III The Thin Ideal in American Mass Media IV Internalization V Body Image VI Eating Disorders VII Theoretical Explanations Outline of Current Lecture VIII The Curvaceously Thin Female IX Harrison 2003 Study X Social Cognitive Theory Fouts Study XI Social Comparison Theory Current Lecture The Curvaceously Thin Female o 36 24 36 body type dimensions Has nothing to do with height Unrealistic expectation Body doesn t exist normally Harrison 2003 Study o Rationale Wanted to know if she could link media exposure to this idealized body type Methods Survey o Everyone answered the exact same questions o Comparisons between participants media diets were made BodyBook o Flip through and pick what your body looks like now o then look through and show idealized body o men only showed the idealized body These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute asked participants if they approved of body alteration methods also asked how much media participants were viewing and what the content was Results Women wanted to have the idealized body o Small breasts wanted bigger and vice versa o There was an overall desire for a smaller waist and hips o The more idealized body content you viewed the more you agreed with body alteration methods Men only agreed with breast augmentation not reduction o This study is a very good example of cultivation theory Social Cognitive Theory Fouts Study o If we didn t learn from models then we would only be left with our own trial and error experiences Doesn t allow us to learn a lot o We pay the most attention to an attractive model An attractive model is one who you want to be in some way o Fouts and Vaughn 2002 Rationale Looking at the male body in particular Did a similar study with women and wanted to know if it also happened with men Seems to be a double standard of how fat male characters are treated compared to fat female characters Method Content analysis Viewed various sitcom tv shows o Get audience reaction aka the rewards punishments of social cognitive theory o Looked at only lead male characters in 27 sitcoms Results Major finding was no relationship between who said negative comments about weight Overweight characters were frequently making themselves the brunt of the jokes o Also heard the laughs after the jokes Implications It s okay to make fun of yourself to fit in o To everyone else you are supposed to laugh o Rewards thinness because we ridicule fatness Mostly men write these sitcoms o Male writers are largely writing from their own experience This study focuses on the rewards and punishments Social Comparison Theory o Humans have an innate tendency to compare themselves with others in an effort to selfevaluate o Comparisons aren t always equal o Can be upward or downward upward You perceive the other person to be better than you You feel bad about yourself We usually make these comparisons more downward You perceive the other person is worse off than you You feel better about yourself o Factors that enhance mitigate comparison process Women of color Not very many have anorexia or bulimia Need people like yourself in the media Race Age o Digital manipulation and Social Comparison Do we compare ourselves to digitally manipulated models Bissel 2006 One group of women were told that the images they were looking at were airbrushed o The other group received no such instructions They then answered questions about body satisfaction disordered eating etc Results no difference between the groups o All women felt worse about themselves