Mirror, mirror on the wall: The effect of listening to body positive music on implicit and explicit body esteem.

Abstract

The current article used 3 studies to examine the impact of listening to body positive music on both explicit and implicit measures of body esteem in women. Study 1 found that women who viewed a mainstream popular body positive music video reported higher levels of body esteem than those who viewed a popular body objectifying music video. In Studies 2 and 3, we wrote and recorded our own songs to keep the musical features apart from the lyrics constant (e.g., rhythm, melody, and singer identity). Study 2 also found that women showed higher levels of implicit (but not explicit) body esteem when watching a music video portraying body positive lyrics as compared with objectifying lyrics. Study 3 added a neutral song and examined a number of moderators. There were few differences between those listening to the body positive and neutral lyrics, but those who listened to objectifying compared with neutral lyrics had lower body esteem. Moderation revealed that women who had preexisting low body esteem showed lower implicit body esteem after listening to any appearance-related music compared with those who listened to neutral lyrics. Thus, we recommend that women choose to listen to body positive lyrics over objectifying ones and to avoid appearance-related songs if they are prone to body esteem concerns. Public Policy Relevance Statement Women who listen to body positive music tend to have higher body esteem than those who listen to body objectifying music. However, women who have prior body image concerns tend to have worse body esteem after listening to any appearance-related music (either positive or negative).

Effect of body image perception and skin-lightening practices on mental health of Filipino emerging adults: a mixed-methods approach protocol

“…However, contrary to these previous results, positive body image was also linked with better overall well-being and quality of life 8 14 15. Measurements such as body appreciation and body esteem are positively associated with mental well-being 16 17…”

Violent and prosocial music: Evidence for the impact of lyrics and musical tone on aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

“…The songs were constructed around a single musical template and a lyrical template in which key words could be changed (see Coyne et al, 2021). For example, the nonaggressive song line “Things are cool .…”

Recognizing the beauty in diversity: Exposure to body-positive content on social media broadens women’s concept of ideal body weight.

“…Proceeding to questions of media modality, it may be kept in mind that although the BoPo movement is currently most prevalent on social media, other media channels provide BoPo content as well. This includes non-fictional and fictional literature, BoPo content on TV, or body-confident musicians (e.g., Coyne et al, 2021). Presumably, getting to know diverse body standards from different sources might be related to an additional diversification effect, assuming that this might strengthen the cognitive availability of the respective ideals.…”