ipl-logo

Social Objectification Theory

745 Words3 Pages

Research on objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts in Psychology of Women Quarterly 21:173-206, 1997) has demonstrated relations among self-objectification body shame, and negative health outcomes. Less research has focused on the relation of body shaming to indicators of well-being. We examined associations among self-objectification, body shame, and two indicators of well-being (i-e self-esteem and satisfaction with life). We also tested explicitly whether body shame mediated the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction. A number of studies have also supported the theorized relationship between self-objectification, body shame and eating disorders. Research by Noll and Fredrickson (1998) found that body shame partially …show more content…

A research by McKinely (1999) demonstrated a negative association between body surveillance, often used as a proxy for self-objectification, and autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations, purpose in life, self-acceptance and body self-esteem. Additional research has shown that body surveillance is related to decreased flow during physical activity (Greenleaf 2005) and lower levels of adaptive and positive coping strategies (Sinclair and Myers 2004). Thus there is a small but suggestive body of literature that highlights the negative impact self-objectification may have on women’s overall well-being. However, more research is needed to examine the effect of self-objectification on other aspects of …show more content…

Self-schemas related to body appearance are thought to influence how individuals respond in various social and private contexts (Cash et al., 2004 and Cash et al., 2005). Women are under constant pressure to achieve and maintain unrealistic slim and toned bodies in accordance with the Western cultural ‘ideal’ (Thompson & Heinberg, 1999) which increases the likelihood of negative emotions and body image disturbance (Brunet et al., 2012, Cash and Smolak, 2011, Fox, 2000 and Monro and Huon, 2005). Although negative body-related emotions may not always lead to clinical psychopathologies such as eating disorders, body dysmorphic disorder, and depression, they are associated with reduced overall psychological well-being (Davidson and McCabe, 2005, McKinley, 2006 and Moradi and Huang,

Show More
Related
730 Words | 3 Pages

(Pigott, 2). Likewise, Catherine altered her body size to meet their gender expectations and various cultural beauty standards. By applying the gender lens to this, we can better understand how gender expectations and cultural beauty standards intersect to shape women’s experiences of their body. It emphasizes how cultural beauty standards can have a significant impact on women's body image, self-esteem, and confidence. Women often feel the pressure to comply with the cultural ideal of beauty, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy, and shame if they do not fit the mold.

Read More
1120 Words | 5 Pages

Marium Javaid and Iftikhar Ahmad authors of the study from the University of Management and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan had two phases for the study. In the first phase of the study, 97 undergraduate students were under administration of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Self-Esteem Scale, Body Image Satisfaction, and Figure Rating Scale. The second phase was, 47 women volunteered and were shown images of the ideal women as in intervention. They were asked after looking at the images to complete the Negative and Positive Affect Schedule and Body Image Scale, and it was performed a second time to look into the views of their recent feelings and views of themselves. The results of both of the phases showed that in the first phase of the study showed that self-esteem and body mass predicted body satisfaction, and in the second phase results it was shown that the females of the different body weight showed no change in their body satisfaction, except the overweight female

Read More
905 Words | 4 Pages

Self-objectification is a result of cultural objectification for women, and it is the acceptance of the belief that society projects on them, Another main factors that contribute to women’s self-object access to media and they can easily see how people see their bodies and what they think about them, which can easily affect their self-image and their satisfaction with their

Read More
1702 Words | 7 Pages

According to a survey done by Jesse Fox, Ph.D., 80% of women feel bad about themselves just by looking in the mirror (Dreisbach). This has happened because of social media being changed to make girls feel like they need to have a certain body shape. Models and celebrities in magazines and media show unrealistic beauty and it contributes to eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and much more (Seventeen magazine). Media has put lots of stress on women throughout history with changing body shapes. A survey done by Dove found results that 9 out of 10 women want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance.

Read More
2531 Words | 11 Pages

The first being Ward’s 8-item sexual objectification subscale and the second being Wright and Tokunaga 5-item voyeurism subscale. Ward’s scale evaluated individuals’ agreement that women’s value is based on their physical appearance and overall attractiveness to men. While the Wright and Tokunaga scale consisted of three items: a man's sex drive, men wanting to look at women other than their partner, and men are naturally hard wired to look at women. The study undergone in this article suggests that adopting an objectified sense of the self is associated with the acceptance that it is okay to objectify women. Lastly the author urges for change because through the evidence provided, self-objectification is an issue rooted in gender inequality and gender

Read More
2443 Words | 10 Pages

As explained in the article “The Importance of Appearance and the Costs of Conformity” by Deborah Rhode, how one is treated is often tied to cultural standards regarding appearance. “Many of the mental health difficulties associated with appearance are the product of widespread social stigma and discrimination. ”(Rhode 41). I felt this discrimination early on in my life and absorbed the view that my weight and size made me worth less than others. The interactions with my peers contributed to my developing mental state and perception of my body.

Read More
1921 Words | 8 Pages

The way society and media depicts both genders has a large influence towards their actions. Women and men’s actions towards attaining a better body are distinct, but their goals are the same. Women have an “unrealistic” beauty expectation that is influenced by media and advertisments. The unrealistic image gives women the impression that they need to look like models and be perfect with no imperfections. This unrealistic image of beauty that society creates has unacceptable outcomes.

Read More
1152 Words | 5 Pages

Men and women nowadays are starting to lose self-confidence in themselves and their body shape, which is negatively impacting the definition of how beauty and body shape are portrayed. “...97% of all women who had participated in a recent poll by Glamour magazine were self-deprecating about their body image at least once during their lives”(Lin 102). Studies have shown that women who occupy most of their time worrying about body image tend to have an eating disorder and distress which impairs the quality of life. Body image issues have recently started to become a problem in today’s society because of social media, magazines, and television.

Read More
133 Words | 1 Pages

In today’s modern culture, almost all forms of popular media play a significant role in bombarding young people, particularly young females, with what happens to be society’s idea of the “ideal body”. This ideal is displayed all throughout different media platforms such as magazine adds, television and social media – the idea of feminine beauty being strictly a flawless thin model. The images the media displays send a distinct message that in order to be beautiful you must look a certain way. This ideal creates and puts pressure on the young female population viewing these images to attempt and be obsessed with obtaining this “ideal body”. In the process of doing so this unrealistic image causes body dissatisfaction, lack of self-confidence

Read More
816 Words | 4 Pages

Self-objectification has been connected depression and eating disorders. When something clearly is not right, like the side effects of the term “distraction”, turn

Read More
2404 Words | 10 Pages

The materials used in the study were gadgets preferably with a camera and a questionnaire made by Thomas F. Cash and Kathleen A. Phillips (2005) known as The Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire (BIDQ). The BIDQ is a Likert type questionnaire which contained seven scaled items and five more items for qualitative research and for the open-ended clarification of responses. The measure consisted of an excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability. For the validity, it has been established in relation to significant relationships with other relevant measures of body image, also with measures of psychosocial functioning such as anxiety, self-esteem, depression, eating disturbance. In male, Average Cronbach’s alphas =

Read More
898 Words | 4 Pages

This has been proven in a number of studies, like one released by the American Psychological Association in 2008. It stated that the sexualization of girls and women leads to depression, unhappiness with their bodies, and causes girls to care less about academic and other achievements, and causes them to put more focus on their appearance. When these girls and women have more focus put on their appearance and internally objectify themselves, they end up putting less effort into achieving goals or educating themselves (Zurbriggen et al, 18-34). One study in particular really shows how much self objectification affects women. Researchers had a group of 42 women, half of whom were put into sweaters, and the other half put into swimsuits.

Read More
800 Words | 4 Pages

“Body dissatisfaction, negative body image, concern with body size, and shape represent attitudes of body image. ”(Dixit 1), women are so obsessed with looking good that they are missing out on enjoying

Read More
900 Words | 4 Pages

The research journal is based primarily on the findings of others and thus provides no further progress into the scope of self-objectification as a whole. • Objectification theory: toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. “This article offers objectification as a framework for understanding the experiential consequences of being female in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body.” Validity: this document (Fredrickson and Roberts) is one of the most commonly referred to documents throughout self-objectification research compilations.

Read More
1677 Words | 7 Pages

Self-esteem Self-esteem is referred to ‘‘positive or negative attitude towards one own self’’ (Rosenberg, 1965), Self esteem is analyzed as a key predictor of psychological well-being, at least among people in Western societies (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, &Vohs, 2003; Oishi, Diener, Lucas, &Suh, 1999). According to Harter (1999) the perceptions of physical appearance and self-worth are interlinked, as perceived appearance is consistently evidenced as the strongest single indicator of self-esteem among female adolescents. (Harter).

Read More

More about Social Objectification Theory

Related Topics

Open Document