The Effect of Media Images on Women's/Girls' Self-Perceptions

The Effect of Media Images on Women’s/Girls Self- Perceptions

People are more likely to judge the image of themselves by what they see in the media. The mass media surrounds us with images of the “thin ideal” for females, an ideal that has become increasingly thin since the 1950’s and thus increasingly unrealistic for most girls and women” (Stice, E. & Shaw, H.E., 1994). In the past and present, the mass media has been surrounding girls and women with the ideal thin image for females. This affects the majority of female’s self-esteem and confidence in a negative way.

Brief Review of Literature

Eyal and Te’eni-Harari (2013) studied the relationships between the extent of media exposure and early adolescents’ body image. For the adolescents, their favorite television characters serve as a character they idolize and this character determines the motivation for the adolescent to compare themselves with the character. This study examined two types of variables that were associated with the favorite characters: the parasocial relationship (PSR) and the incentive to compare themselves with the character (Eyal,K., & Te’eni-Harari, T, 2013). The method used to conduct this research were questionnaires that were distributed to 391 seventh and eighth graders in two different middle schools. The participants were asked to state the average number of hours that they spend watching television, using the internet, and playing video games. The study shows that exposure to media is related to motivations of self-compare which leads to a body shape inconsistency and a lower body image perceptions. “In relation to the study the favorite television character serves as an important comparison target – extending past research on more general social ...

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