Τhe effect of exposure to pictures of ideal attractive people on mass media, on body image in middle-aged adults

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Published: Sep 29, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/jret.19474
Keywords:
Self-esteem Body image Attractiveness Mass media Middle-aged adults
Στεργιανή Παράσχου
Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1932-7957
Δέσποινα Μωραΐτου
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0527-7143
Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine how middle-aged adults perceive their Body Image. The sample consisted of 20 individuals, men and women, equally distributed into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group was exposed to virtual stimuli depicting pictures of attractive people, according to today’s ideal attractiveness standards of media, while the control group was exposed to pictures of attractive people of “everyday life”. Self-report questionnaires related to self-esteem and current total body image satisfaction were administered before and after participants’ exposure. The results showed that middle-aged adults were negatively affected in terms of body image satisfaction, after exposure to pictures of attractive people regardless of whether they display ideal standards or not. However, self-esteem was negatively affected only on those, who were exposed to images of the media that display ideal standards. In case of pictures of attractive people of “everyday life”, self-esteem was raised.

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Author Biographies
Στεργιανή Παράσχου, Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
Ψυχολόγος
Δέσποινα Μωραΐτου, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Tμήμα Ψυχολογίας,

Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια Γνωστικής Γηροψυχολογίας

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