Is objectification always harmful? Reactions to objectifying images and feedback as a function of self-objectification and mortality salience

Goldenberg, Jamie L.; Cooper, Douglas; Heflick, Nathan A.; Routledge, Clay; Arndt, Jamie

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.11.013

Cited by 27 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Research demonstrates that women who self-objectify report less negative mood (Fea & Brannon, 2006;Tiggemann & Boundy, 2008) as well as boosts to self-esteem and well-being (Breines, Crocker, & Garcia, 2008;Goldenberg, Cooper, Heflick, Routledge, & Arndt, 2011) when sexually objectified. Indeed, although women are more dependent on men for financial support and protection, men are more dependent on women in the realm of intimate and sexual relations, allowing women to wield some power in heterosexual relationships (Rudman & Glick, 2008).…”

Section: Self-objectification: Power or Palliative?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What self-objectification appears to do is help make the system more palatable for women (Jost, 1995), especially under conditions of greater epistemic (Calogero & Jost, 2011), existential (Goldenberg et al, 2011), and relational (Zurbriggen, Ramsey, & Jaworski, 2011) Running head: OBJECTS AND ACTIONS 23 stress. Investment in appearance as the means to self-worth and social status brings the self in line with the system, which motivates women to work harder in the service of that system.…”

Section: Demonstrated That Appearancementioning

confidence: 99%

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On Objects and Actions: Situating Self-Objectification in a System Justification Context

Calogero

2013

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation

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Integrating objectification and system justification perspectives, this chapter offers a conception of self-objectification as a dominant cultural lens through which women come to view themselves that garners their compliance in the sexist status quo. This chapter begins with an overview of objectification theory (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997) and system justification theory (Jost and Banaji, 1994). Then, an integration of the two perspectives is presented that situates self-objectification in a system justification context, extending the scope of impact of self-objectification beyond the domains of body image and mental health. Empirical evidence is reviewed to demonstrate the direct and indirect ways that self-objectification works as a systemjustifying device for many women. For example, as a self-perspective that increases in response to benevolently sexist ideology or as a potential obstacle to taking collective action on behalf of women, self-objectification functions as a motivational and ideological force that rationalizes and legitimizes a gender role hierarchy. This developing program of research attempts to deepen our understanding of self-objectification and the broader system-level implications of this self-perspective. The chapter concludes with a discussion of potential next steps and a call for continued scientific inquiry into the broader functions of self-objectification.

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Section: Self-objectification: Power or Palliative?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Demonstrated That Appearancementioning

confidence: 99%

On Objects and Actions: Situating Self-Objectification in a System Justification Context

Calogero

2013

Nebraska Symposium on Motivation

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“…Items include content ranging from body parts (e.g., ''biceps''), to body competence (e.g., ''muscular strength''), to body sensation (e.g., ''sex drive''), to body appearance (e.g., ''appearance of eyes''). Consistent with prior research (e.g., Goldenberg et al, 2011), scores were calculated by taking the mean of all items (a ¼ .91).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have used similar images of scantily clad women to depict the objectification of women (e.g., Gray, Knobe, Sheskin, Bloom, & Barrett, 2011;Loughnan et al, 2010), and Loughnan et al (2010) demonstrated that such images were perceived as objectifying. Moreover, the Swimsuit Issue employed in the present study was used in Goldenberg et al (2011). As in Goldenberg et al, the competence (non-objectifying) condition was also taken from Sports Illustrated (22 September 2003).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent findings derived from TMT shed light on why this might be. Goldenberg, Cooper, Heflick, Routledge, and Arndt (2011) hypothesized that to the extent that reminders of mortality motivate women to affirm their important values, objectifying experiences, and even exposure to objectifying images, should allow for such affirmations among women who highly value their appearance (i.e., high selfobjectifiers). Accordingly, high self-objectifiers responded more positively to an objectifying stimulus (a bikini-clad model on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition) relative to low self-objectifiers.…”

Section: Tmt and The Need For Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Objectification as Self-affirmation in the Context of a Death-relevant Health Threat

et al. 2013

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Sexualize one, objectify all? The sexualization spillover effect on female job candidates

Guillén,

Kakarika,

Heflick

2023

J Organ Behavior

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SummaryWe examined whether sexualizing a businesswoman impacts attitudes toward subsequently evaluated, nonsexualized females applying for a corporate managerial position. Research shows that sexualized women are perceived as less warm and competent (i.e., objectified). Integrating this work with research on social cognition, we hypothesized that the negative effect of sexualization “spills over” onto other nonsexualized women, reducing their hireability. Across two experiments, initially sexualized women were perceived as less warm and competent, as were subsequently evaluated nonsexualized female job candidates. In turn, these negative perceptions reduced the applicants' probability of being hired. Sexualization of women also increased intentions to hire a subsequently evaluated male candidate. The results were robust when we controlled for evaluators' gender and age. Our findings demonstrate that female job applicants can experience detrimental effects from sexually based objectification, even when they are not the individuals initially sexualized. We discuss implications for women's careers.

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Is objectification always harmful? Reactions to objectifying images and feedback as a function of self-objectification and mortality salience

Cited by 27 publications

References 31 publications

On Objects and Actions: Situating Self-Objectification in a System Justification Context

On Objects and Actions: Situating Self-Objectification in a System Justification Context

Objectification as Self-affirmation in the Context of a Death-relevant Health Threat

Sexualize one, objectify all? The sexualization spillover effect on female job candidates

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