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The effect of priming materialism on women's responses to thin-ideal media
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 10:22 authored by Eleni-Marina Ashikali, Helga DittmarConsumer culture is characterized by two prominent ideals: the 'body perfect' and the material 'good life'. Although the impact of these ideals has been investigated in separate research literatures, no previous research has examined whether materialism is linked to women's responses to thin-ideal media. Data from several studies confirm that the internalization of materialistic and body-ideal values is positively linked in women. After developing a prime for materialism (N = 50), we present an experimental examination (N = 155) of the effects of priming materialism on women's responses to thin-ideal media, using multiple outcome measures of state body dissatisfaction. Priming materialism affects women's body dissatisfaction after exposure to thin media models, but differently depending on the dimension of body image measured. The two main novel findings are that (1) priming materialism heightens the centrality of appearance to women's self-concept and (2) priming materialism influences the activation of bodyrelated self-discrepancies (BRSDs), particularly for highly materialistic women. Exposure to materialisticmedia has a clear influence on women's body image, with trait materialism a further vulnerability factor for negative exposure effects in response to idealized, thin media models.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
British Journal of Social PsychologyISSN
0144-6665Publisher
WileyExternal DOI
Issue
4Volume
51Page range
514-533Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-20Usage metrics
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