Does Size Matter?
The Impact of ‘Body Perfect’
Ideals in the Media
Helga Dittmar
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Why worry?
Media models’ body size
versus reality
•
•
•
•
Gap between body ideal  actual body
Exposure unavoidable (3,000+ ads a day)
Media models construct “reality” ≠ real
Unhealthy and abnormal body ideal
• Biologically inappropriate
• Artificial
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Healthy and unhealthy
t
h
ig
e
rw
e
nd
U
al
m
r
o
N
t
h
ig
e
rw
e
v
O
e
s
be
O
10
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14
15
16
17
18
Weight
relative
to height
Media
model
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Average
woman
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
15
20
25
BMI
30
35
40
Body Mass
Index (BMI)
Body Image & Well-Being
Body dissatisfaction
Physical Health
Mental Health
Unhealthy body-shaping
behaviours
Negative affect, clinical
disorders
• Extreme dieting, disordered
eating
• Cosmetic surgery
• Abuse of medication & drugs
• Extreme exercising
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•
•
•
•
Negative self-evaluation
Depression
Eating disorders
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Meta analyses
Women
25 experiments
Men
10 experiments, 15 corr. studies
Body dissatisfaction: d = -.31 Negative body image:
d = -.22exp; d = -.19corr
(Groesz, Murnen, & Levine, IJED, 2002)
(Barlett, Vowels, & Saucier, JSCP, 2008)
49 experiments, 28 corr. studies
15 experiments
Body dissatisfaction: d = -.28 Body dissatisfaction: d = -.43
Eating behaviors:
d = -.30 (Blond, Body Image, 2008)
(Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, Psych Bull, 2008)
Dublin, 13th April 2010
The big picture
Positive
Body
Image
Women (2005)
No harm
Women (2008)
Men (2008)
0
Negative
Body
Image
-0.45
Effect size
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Body Dissatisfaction
Eating
Men (2008)
State of the art?
• Plenty of evidence that ‘body perfect’
exposure makes individuals feel bad about
their bodies
• Negative exposure effects may be stronger
in adolescents than adults
• What about children?
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Media Exposure Model
• Psychological Mechanism (mediator)
• Self-Discrepancy Theory (Higgins, 1987)
• Gaps between actual and ideal self as cause of
negative affect
• Chronic self-beliefs vs. acute activation*
• Specific SDs related to ‘body perfect’ ideal
• Activation of ideal-body SDs leads to
negative body-focused affect (body
dissatisfaction)
*Dittmar & Halliwell, 2005, 2008
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Process Model
Media Exposure
Mediator
Outcome
‘Body Perfect’
Ideals
Activation
of ideal-body
self-discrepancies
Body-focused
Negative affect
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Experiment 1
•
•
•
•
Dolls embody female ‘body perfect’ ideal
Exposure experiment with images of dolls
5-8-year-old girls
First exposure experiment with such
young girls Dittmar, Halliwell, & Ive (2006) Developmental Psych
• Does exposure to images of dolls cause
actual-ideal body-size SDs?
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Experiment 1
• Girls heard story about “Mira”
• Picture book featuring images of
• Thin dolls (Barbie) OR
• Average-size dolls (Emme) OR
• No dolls (control baseline)
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Picture book with thin doll
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Picture book average-size doll
Taken from Dittmar
(2007), image reproduced
with kind permission of
Tonner Inc. & Emme
Model Agency
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Picture book without doll
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Experiment 1
• Girls heard story about “Mira”
• Picture book featuring images of
• Thin dolls (Barbie) OR
• Average-size dolls (Emme) OR
• No dolls (control baseline)
• After exposure, measures of
• Actual body size
• Ideal body size
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Actual vs. Ideal Body
4
3
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4–3=1
Body-size discrepancy
1.4
5 years
6 years
Girls’ actual-ideal
body-size
discrepancy
significantly
higher after
thin dolls than
other images
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
7 year-olds no effect
0
Neutral
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Emme
Barbie
Process Model in Adults
• Cover story. Advertising effectiveness
• Stimuli. Sets of advertisements identical in
background, product, slogan, except
• Presence of idealised media model
• OR absence of model (control)
• Measures
• (a) Self-Discrepancy Index (SDI)
Dittmar et al., 1996, Acta Psych; Halliwell & Dittmar, 2006, PSPB
(b) Body-Focused Negative Affect (BFNA)
adaptation of PASTAS, cf. Dittmar, 2008, Book
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Ad with thin model*
*research
supported by
ESRC, see
Dittmar &
Halliwell
(2005)
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Ad without model (control)
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Experiment 2
• Exposure to ultra-thin models 
significantly stronger BFNA (β = .21; p < .05)
.21*
Exposure to
ultra-thin models
Dittmar & Halliwell, 2007, APS
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Body-focused
Negative affect
Experiment 2
• Exposure to ultra-thin models 
significantly stronger BFNA (β = .21; p < .05)
• Body-related self-discrepancy activation
mediates this link (reduced to β = .09; ns)
• Full mediation
Exposure to
ultra-thin models
.30*
Dittmar & Halliwell, 2007, APS
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Activation
of weight-related
self-discrepancies
.52***
Body-focused
Negative affect
Ad with muscular model
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Ad without model (control)
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Experiment 3
• Exposure to muscular models 
significantly stronger BFNA (β = .27; p < .05)
• Ideal-body self-discrepancy activation fully
mediates this link (β = .14; ns)
•
.36***
.39**
Activation of
Exposure to
muscular models
muscularity-related
self-discrepancies
Dittmar, Phillips, & Halliwell (in preparation), Study 3
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Body-focused
Negative affect
Process Model
Media Exposure
Mediator
Outcome
‘Body Perfect’
Ideals
Activation
of ideal-body
self-discrepancies
Body-focused
Negative affect
• Model applicable to both women & men
• Good support for process (full mediation)
• Individual differences in vulnerability
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New Media & Adolescence
• Magazine advertisements (typically studied)
• Media consumption changed
• Music videos*
• Computer games**
• Teenage drama TV***
• Exposure to ‘Body Perfect’ Ideals causes
greater body dissatisfaction
• Important addition: Direct effect on eating
behaviour
*Bell, Lawton, & Dittmar (2007), Dittmar, Barker, & Bond (2010) **Dittmar, Bond,
Moorehouse, & Rees (2010)
***Stonebridge & Dittmar (2010)
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Do we need ‘perfect’
models?
• Advertisers claim “thin models sell”
• Evidence?
• Our research = first systematic studies
to examine claim
• Experiments assessed advertising
effectiveness
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Advertising effectiveness
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Thin models
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Average models
Advertising effectiveness
9
Average-size
models =
Thin models
8
7
6
True for
different
products
5
4
3
personal care
make-up
diet foods
2
1
0
Thin models
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Average models
Therefore…
• Perceived advertising effectiveness not
compromised by average-size models
• No need for advertisers to use thin models
• Average-size models
no negative
impact on body image (Dittmar & Howard, 2004)
• Use alternative models!
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Don’t need thin models to
sell moisturiser
Dublin, 13th April 2010
What can we do?
• Intervention (e.g., in schools)
• Critical media analysis
• Increase body confidence
• Other sources of self-worth
• Advertising and media policy
• Use of models with an average body size
• Diversity of body shapes
• Kitemark airbrushed models (clear labels)
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Publications
.
Bell, B. T., Lawson, R., & Dittmar, H. (2007). The impact of thin models in music videos on adolescent girls’ body
dissatisfaction. Body Image, 4, 137-145.
Dittmar, H. (2005). Vulnerability Factors and Processes Linking Sociocultural Pressures and Body Dissatisfaction:
An Introduction to the Second Special Issue on Body Image. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24,
1081-1087.
Dittmar, H. (2008). Consumer culture, identity, and well-being: The search for the ‘good life’ and ‘body perfect’.
European Monographs in Social Psychology (Series editor: Rupert Brown). London: Psychology Press.
Dittmar, H. (2009). Do ‘Body Perfect’ Ideals in the Media have a Negative Impact on Body Image and
Behaviors? Factors and Processes Related to Self and Identity. Editorial note for Special Issue on Media,
Body Image and Eating Behaviors, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.
Dittmar, H. Barker, L. & Bond, R. (2010) . Who is taking the rap? The impact of body ideals and Rap and Indie
music videos on adolescent boys’ body dissatisfaction. Paper presented at Appearance Matters, Bristol, June.
Dittmar, H., Bond, R., & Moorehouse, A., & Rees, J. (2010). Computer games increase adolescent boys’ body
dissatisfaction. Manuscript in preparation.
Dittmar, H. & Halliwell, E. (2005). The role of self-beliefs in women’s responses to idealised media images. ESRC report at
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre.
Dittmar, H., Halliwell, E., & Ive, S. (2006). Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5-8year-old girls. Developmental Psychology, 42, 283-292.
Dittmar, H. & Howard, S. (2004a). Ideal-body internalization and social comparison tendency as moderators of thin media models’ impact on women’s bodyfocused anxiety. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 768-791.
Dittmar, H. & Howard, S. (2004b). Professional hazards? The impact of model’s body size on advertising effectiveness and women’s body-focused anxiety in
professions that do and do not emphasize the cultural ideal of thinness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 43, 1-33.
Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational
studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 460-476.
Groesz, L. M., Levine, M. P., & Murnen, S. K. (2002). The effect of experimental presentation of thin media images on body satisfaction: A meta-analytic review.
International Journal of Eating Disorders, 31, 1-16.
Grogan, S. (2007). Body image: Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women and children, 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.
Halliwell, E., Dittmar, H., & Orsborn, A. (2007). The effects of exposure to muscular male models amongst men: Exploring the moderating role of gym use and
exercise motivation. Body Image, 4, 278-287.
Halliwell, E. & Dittmar, H. (2004). Does size matter? The impact of model’s body size on advertising effectiveness and women’s body-focused anxiety. Journal of
Social and Clinical Psychology, 23, 105-132. Special issue on Media and Body Image.
Halliwell, E., Dittmar, H. & Howe, J. (2005). The impact of ideal media images on advertising effectiveness and body-focused anxiety in women with an eating
disorder history. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 15, 406-413.
Halliwell, E. & Dittmar, H. (2005). The role of self-improvement and self-evaluation motives in social comparisons with idealised female bodies in the media. Body
Image, 2, 249-261.
Stonebridge, J. & Dittmar, H. (2010). The impact of realistic and fictional teenage TV drama on adolescents body image and eating. Unpublished final year
dissertation, University of Sussex.
E-mail: [email protected]
Dublin, 13th April 2010
Thank you!
Dublin, 13th April 2010