**2. Effects of exposure to idealized media images on body image**

In modern times, most people living in developed countries encounter some type of mass media (e.g. television, music videos, movies, and magazines) on a daily basis. Thin ideal images often accompany various advertised products, the pairing of which reinforces the idea that if you buy or use a particular product, you, too, can be beautiful. In the past two decades, there has been an abundance of empirical research concerning the impact of exposure to idealized bodies in the media on how people perceive and evaluate their own bodies. Most of this research has been on women, among whom the idea that 'thin is beautiful' is prevalent. Correlational studies typically examine the association between naturalistic media consumption and various body image con‐ structs, such as body perception, ideal body size, and body dissatisfaction. Experimental studies typically expose participants to photographs of very thin and attractive models under varying conditions and measure the participant's subsequent body image. The latter type of studies can advance our understanding of the causal effects of media on body image. Several meta‐ana‐ lytic reviews of such studies have been conducted with regard to these findings. The first meta‐ analysis of the effects of exposure to thin ideal media was conducted by Groesz et al. [2], who examined 25 experimental studies conducted between 1983 and 1998 involving a total of 2292 participants. They concluded that women's body image was significantly more negative after viewing thin media images, as compared to after viewing control images or images of average‐ sized or plus‐sized models, and that this effect was moderate in size.

Although the previous meta‐analysis was limited to experimental studies, Grabe et al. [3] conducted a meta‐analysis of both experimental and correlational studies examining the link between media exposure and body dissatisfaction, as well as internalization of the thin ideal—the extent to which someone believes that a very slender body type is beautiful—in women. They reviewed 90 studies and concluded that media exposure was associated with decreased body satisfaction in women and that this effect was moderate in size. They also concluded that media exposure was associated with increased internalization of the thin ideal across 23 studies and that the effect size was moderate.

media convey messages about body weight and shape ideals. For women in Western culture, a very common attitude is that thinness is beauty. We review the literature on the role of mass media—both traditional media and newer, online media—and how they interact with psy‐

Body image is a multidimensional construct that refers to one's perception of and attitudes about the size and shape of one's body. It has both a perceptual component that refers to how we see our body size, shape, weight, physical characteristics, performance, and movement, and an evaluative component, which refers to how we feel about these attributes and how those feelings influence our behaviors [1]. Body dissatisfaction is experienced when someone perceives that their body falls short of the societal ideal in terms of size and/or shape, regard‐ less of that person's objective size or shape. In other words, body dissatisfaction is influenced not only by how we interpret societal ideals, but by how we perceive ourselves. Therefore, body dissatisfaction and perceptions of beauty are inextricably linked. Body dissatisfaction is the number one risk factor for a number of unhealthy behaviors, including clinical eating disorders and chronic dieting. Therefore, a delineation of the origins of body dissatisfaction is important not just for theories of perceptions of beauty, but for clinical and practical purposes.

**2. Effects of exposure to idealized media images on body image**

sized or plus‐sized models, and that this effect was moderate in size.

In modern times, most people living in developed countries encounter some type of mass media (e.g. television, music videos, movies, and magazines) on a daily basis. Thin ideal images often accompany various advertised products, the pairing of which reinforces the idea that if you buy or use a particular product, you, too, can be beautiful. In the past two decades, there has been an abundance of empirical research concerning the impact of exposure to idealized bodies in the media on how people perceive and evaluate their own bodies. Most of this research has been on women, among whom the idea that 'thin is beautiful' is prevalent. Correlational studies typically examine the association between naturalistic media consumption and various body image con‐ structs, such as body perception, ideal body size, and body dissatisfaction. Experimental studies typically expose participants to photographs of very thin and attractive models under varying conditions and measure the participant's subsequent body image. The latter type of studies can advance our understanding of the causal effects of media on body image. Several meta‐ana‐ lytic reviews of such studies have been conducted with regard to these findings. The first meta‐ analysis of the effects of exposure to thin ideal media was conducted by Groesz et al. [2], who examined 25 experimental studies conducted between 1983 and 1998 involving a total of 2292 participants. They concluded that women's body image was significantly more negative after viewing thin media images, as compared to after viewing control images or images of average‐

Although the previous meta‐analysis was limited to experimental studies, Grabe et al. [3] conducted a meta‐analysis of both experimental and correlational studies examining the link between media exposure and body dissatisfaction, as well as internalization of the thin ideal—the extent to which someone believes that a very slender body type is beautiful—in

chological factors to impact appearance concerns and body image.

146 Perception of Beauty

There is robust empirical support for the idea that exposure to idealized body images in tra‐ ditional forms of media (e.g. magazines and television) affects perceptions of beauty and appearance concerns by leading women to internalize a very slender female body type as ideal or beautiful. There is also support for the idea that exposure to the thin ideal is associ‐ ated with body dissatisfaction in the moment among women. While most of the research on this topic has been conducted with female participants, there is also some research on male participants. Men's and women's body ideals vary considerably in Western cultures, where most of this research has been conducted. While women's body ideal is slim, men's is lean, but well‐defined and muscular. Blond [4] conducted a meta‐analysis of experimental research concerning the effects of exposure to media featuring the male muscular ideal on men's body image. In her review of 15 studies with a total of 1085 participants, she concluded that expo‐ sure to images of idealized male bodies caused men to feel more dissatisfied with their own bodies and that the effect size was small. In sum, we can say that the association between exposure to idealized body images in the media and body dissatisfaction holds true for both men and women, with the effect in women being slightly stronger than in men. There is no established cause for this gender difference to date.

Although it has been established that exposure to idealized bodies in the media has signifi‐ cant effects on how both men and women want to look (and, sometimes, how they think they do look), it is important to emphasize that not all individuals respond to viewing idealized images in the same way. Research has revealed various individual differences that moderate the impact of exposure to idealized images on body image. For example, a person's psycho‐ logical motives for viewing thin ideal media images can determine whether and how they affect that individual's self‐perceptions of beauty.

Social comparison refers to an individual's tendency to compare oneself to other people and has been found to moderate the impact of exposure to idealized media. Tiggemann and McGill [5] found that the effects of thin‐ideal advertisements on mood and body dissatisfaction were mediated by social comparison in a sample of 126 female undergraduate students such that women who engaged in more social comparison experienced more negative mood and body dissatisfaction after exposure to magazine advertisements containing images of thin‐idealized female beauty. Indeed, social comparison, as either a psychological trait or state, is a reliable moderator of the impact of idealized media exposure on both men and women. For example, Galioto and Crowther [6] found that trait social comparison as measured by a self‐report ques‐ tionnaire predicted increased body dissatisfaction among male undergraduate students who viewed muscular idealized men in advertisements. Moreover, Tiggemann et al. [7] further investigated the role of cognitive processing in the impact of idealized images on mood and body dissatisfaction. They found that instructing women to engage in social comparison pro‐ cessing (e.g. asking the participant to rate how much she would like her body to look like that of a thin model) of thin‐ideal images led to greater negative mood and body dissatisfaction as compared to a control condition. Interestingly, they also found that giving women fantasy instructions to imagine themselves in the place of a thin model led to improved mood as compared to control. In sum, the way that idealized images are cognitively processed is a key determinant in terms of the impact those images have on an individual's self‐perceptions of attractiveness or beauty. But little is yet known about why some people are more at risk for comparing themselves to idealized images.

Trait, dietary restraint has been found to moderate individuals' responses to idealized body images found in the media. Mills et al. [8] found that restrained eaters (i.e. chronic dieters) are differentially impacted by exposure to thin ideal media as compared to unrestrained eaters. Restrained eaters frequently attempt to lose weight by restricting what they eat. We con‐ cluded that restrained eaters may be susceptible to a 'thin fantasy' when viewing ideal body images. Specifically, restrained eaters, but not unrestrained eaters, rated both their ideal and current body as thinner and felt more attractive as a result of viewing ideal body images in magazine advertisements. This effect was further moderated by thinness attainability beliefs. Specifically, the immediate enhancement of women's feelings of attractiveness fol‐ lowing exposure to the thin ideal was stronger when dieters were led to believe that they could lose weight through dieting, as compared to when they were told that losing weight is extremely difficult. In other words, under certain conditions, thin ideal media images can actually make women feel better about their appearance. These effects are presumed to be short‐lived, although no research to date has examined how long self‐enhancement lasts after exposure to thin ideal images.

Further evidence that the context of the idealized images is important in terms of their psychological impact comes from a recent study by Veldhuis et al. [9]. The authors found that when self‐improvement messages accompanied images of idealized bodies, exposure increased body satisfaction in a sample of undergraduate men and women, as compared to self‐evaluation messages or control. Knobloch‐Westerwick [10] also found that women, who made self‐improvement (versus self‐evaluation) social comparisons in response to thin‐ideal images, had improved body satisfaction as opposed to decreased body satisfaction. In other words, the messages that accompany idealized body images commonly found in the media make a difference in terms of how people feel about their bodies after looking at them.

Lastly, the psychological construct of body appreciation, or the extent to which one allows negative body‐related information to be rejected and positive information to be accepted, is an individual difference variable that has been found to be protective against some of the negative psychological impacts that stem from exposure to idealized media images. Andrew et al. [11] found that, in a sample of university women, participants with low body appreciation experi‐ enced increased body dissatisfaction after exposure to thin‐ideal advertisements whereas indi‐ viduals with high body appreciation did not. This lends support to the idea that women, who have a positive bias in their perceptions of their body, are less likely to experience a negative shift in body image in response to exposure to thin ideal media images.

Body dissatisfaction is a major predictor of the development of clinically disordered eating. While it oversimplifies the psychopathology of eating disorders to suggest that exposure to thin ideal images causes eating disorders, thin ideal images do have significant health implications. For both women and men, the development of unhealthy weight control practices can result from body dissatisfaction, such as strict or chronic dieting, excessive exercise, and steroid use. To mitigate the negative effects of thin ideal exposure on the health and well‐being of their viewers, it has been suggested that magazines should contain disclaimer labels if a photo has been retouched. In 2009, Australia's National Advisory Group on Body Image endorsed the use of warning labels by the advertising, media, and fashion industries to indicate digitally altered images. Other countries have considered a similar public policy. Retouching of magazine photos can include enhancements of skin tone or texture, hair, or make‐up, but most attention has been paid to retouching related to models' weight and shape. Photos are often altered by magazines so that flesh is trimmed off in areas like the stomach and thighs, giving the appearance of a slimmer body. The idea is that if women were aware that media images are not real, they could distance themselves psychologically from unrealistic beauty standards and not be influenced by them. Unfortunately, results from this line of research suggest that disclaimer labels are generally not very effective in terms of minimizing the negative effects of thin ideal images on viewers' body image, mood/ confidence, or intention to diet [12, 13]. In addition, a popular media literacy campaign aimed at diminishing the negative effects of exposure to the thin ideal (i.e. a 75‐second Dove Evolution video, showing all of the effort that goes into producing a photo of a model who looks flawless) did not improve how women feel about their own appearance [14]. Clearly, cultural beauty standards as communicated by the media are powerful messages. Even knowing that thin ideal images are not real does not stop women from wanting to achieve that standard of beauty.
