Literature Review It is almost impossible to avoid any form of media in today’s society. There are many forms of media all over the world, and in America we are extremely involved in media use. In our society, people view countless hours of TV per week, look at magazines and other publications, go on the internet, pass billboards, and see numerous amounts of advertisings. Beautiful people, luxurious things, and amazing places are all shown and read about in media. The mass media is the most powerful way to spread these images that represent sociocultural ideals (Tiggemann, 2003). However, that media seems to be negatively affecting the people in our society by giving this ideal image of what we should look like. The idea of beauty and attractiveness have been pounded into our heads though the media. Both women and men are pressured into looking like this ideal person. Women are told that being attractive is having flawless skin, pretty teeth, long flowing hair, and of course being extremely skinny. Studies have shown that Hawkins et al. (2004) stated that most of the women portrayed in the media are 15% below the average weight of women. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to determine if media really has an effect on the self-esteem and body image of men and women. Not only do we want to find out if it has an effect, but if it affects women or men more. This is important to find out because we are exposed to media every day, whether in the newspaper or on TV. Our society has created an image of what the ideal woman and man should look like through the things they put out in media. However, the media seems to putting a negative effect on people, and how they feel about themselves. These negative effects lead to... ... middle of paper ... ...s Average). Finally, the students will return and watch the second video(curvy or plus size models, 5-10 minutes long. The students will then be given the third packet of surveys in the exact same order as the first packet with reverse code. After all the data is collected for the first time, the students will be debriefed with a brief speech (1-2 min) on being comfortable in their own skin, then they will be released. The researcher will then average the scores for the final test, having a total of six averaged score. At this point when comparing the average scores between genders, you will see exactly which groups where more affected by the manipulated variable individually when compared to the original score. Finally, the researcher would average the two manipulated variable scores. This will finally tell us as a whole which group is more effected by the media.
Media is a wide term that covers many information sources including, television, movies, advertisement, books, magazines, and the internet. It is from this wide variety of information that women receive cues about how they should look. The accepted body shape and has been an issue affecting the population probably since the invention of mirrors but the invention of mass media spread it even further. Advertisements have been a particularly potent media influence on women’s body image, which is the subjective idea of one's own physical appearance established by observation and by noting the reactions of others. In the case of media, it acts as a super peer that reflects the ideals of a whole society. Think of all the corsets, girdles, cosmetics, hair straighteners, hair curlers, weight gain pills, and diet pills that have been marketed over the years. The attack on the female form is a marketing technique for certain industries. According to Sharlene Nag...
Media is all around us from television to billboards, making it difficult not to be influence by media in one way or another. Unfortunately, media has influence women to believe that in order for women to be considered beautiful, they must for fill the characteristics of what media considers beautiful. Hurting women both psychologically and physically.
Hass, Cheryl J., et al. "An Intervention for the Negative Influence of Media on Body Esteem." College Student Journal 46.2 (2012): 405-418. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
Holmstrom, A. (2004). The effects of the media on the body image: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 48(2), 196-217.
Why is this topic of utmost importance? Undeniably, the media now has become an essential tool for everyone in this era, be it for information and social networking (Shakeel). However, it has also become a platform for people to look up to – for both the good and bad reasons. Generally, most females look to the media as an example for an “ideal” body image. If so, what are the impacts? To what extent does mass media contribute to negative perceptions of body image by females? Does the amount of time spent using the mass media contribute to females’ perception of their body image? What factors influence why some females are affected by the images of the media and some aren’t? This literatu...
Every culture around the globe stresses specific ideals for body image. In the United States and many other countries, the media plays a big role in how we view ourselves- it shows us what is "good" and what is "bad." In many ways our society infiltrates our concept of ideal body image by setting unrealistic expectations for both genders. At an early age we are instructed to pay special attention to our appearance. A...
Grabe, S., Ward, L., & Hyde, J. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlationsla studies. Psychological Bulletin, 460-476.
In today’s society individuals in the United States are bombarded with media and its advertisements. There are various forms in which you can be exposed to media including the television, radio, movies, magazines, billboards, newspapers, and even your computer. On a daily basis individuals are being exposed and consuming an average of ten hours and seventeen minutes of media and about three thousand advertisements a day. In those ten hours we are exposed to things such as the unrealistic beauty standards from cosmetic, and fashion advertisements, as well as violence from television shows and video games. Our country has created a culture that is obsessed with looks and possessions; they have created a false reality and happiness for individuals,
Men and women are primed from a young age through magazines, TV shows, social media apps and more to conform to the ideal standards of beauty. As people move through the different milestones of the human lifespan their body image expectations and motivations change. It is essential to study body image to understand the effect it has on our physical, emotional, and psychological health. Exploring body image though the categories of university students, ethnicity, pregnancy, and gender helps to gain a well rounded view of medias effects on body
Dittmar, Helga. "How Do "body Perfect" Ideals in the Media Have a Negative Impact on Body Image and Behaviors? Factors and Processes Related to Self and Identity." : Sussex Research Online. N.p, 6 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
To begin, social media has created unrealistic standards for young people, especially females. Being bombarded by pictures of females wearing bikinis or minimal clothing that exemplifies their “perfect” bodies, squatting an unimaginable amount of weight at a gym while being gawked at by the opposite sex or of supermodels posing with some of life’s most desirable things has created a standard that many young people feel they need to live up to. If this standard isn’t reached, then it is assumed that they themselves are not living up to the norms or the “standards” and then therefore, they are not beautiful. The article Culture, Beauty and Therapeutic Alliance discusses the way in which females are bombarded with media messages star...
Vargas, L E. (2013) The Negative Effects of The Media on Body Image. Personal.psu.edu. Retrieved 30 Nov. 17 from:
In this age, media is more pervasive than ever, with people constantly processing some form of entertainment, advertisement or information. In each of these outlets there exists an idealized standard of beauty, statistically shown to effect the consumer’s reflection of themselves. The common portrayal of women’s bodies in the media has shown to have a negative impact on women and girls. As the audience sees these images, an expectation is made of what is normal. This norm does not correspond to the realistic average of the audience. Failing to achieve this isolates the individual, and is particularly psychologically harmful to women. Though men are also shown to also be effected negatively by low self-esteem from the media, there remains a gap as the value of appearance is seen of greater significance to women, with a booming cosmetic industry, majority of the fashion world, and the marketing of diet products and programs specifically targeting women.
Women and girls seem to be more affected by the mass media than do men and boys. Females frequently compare themselves to others, finding the negative rather than looking at the positive aspects of their own body. The media’s portrayal of the ideal body type impacts the female population far more than males, however, it is not only the mass media that affects women, but also influence of male population has on the female silhouette too.
The media has one of the most influential impacts on what is seen as beauty in society (Bromley, 2012).Women spend thousands of dollars on products and cosmetics to achieve the unrealistic and unhealthy look of models on advertisements (Valenti, 2007). In most extreme cases, women who feel that their unhealthy weight goal is not achieved turn to extreme eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating (Cunning, 2011). However, despite the unrealistic frames of models on advertisements, women are still lured and pressured into the “perfect” image that is portrayed by the media using race, youth, and sexuality (Bromley, 2012).