The effect of priming materialism on women's responses to thin‐ideal media

Abstract

Consumer culture is characterized by two prominent ideals: the 'body perfect' and the material 'good life'. Although the impact of these ideals has been investigated in separate research literatures, no previous research has examined whether materialism is linked to women's responses to thin-ideal media. Data from several studies confirm that the internalization of materialistic and body-ideal values is positively linked in women. After developing a prime for materialism (N = 50), we present an experimental examination (N = 155) of the effects of priming materialism on women's responses to thin-ideal media, using multiple outcome measures of state body dissatisfaction. Priming materialism affects women's body dissatisfaction after exposure to thin media models, but differently depending on the dimension of body image measured. The two main novel findings are that (1) priming materialism heightens the centrality of appearance to women's self-concept and (2) priming materialism influences the activation of body-related self-discrepancies (BRSDs), particularly for highly materialistic women. Exposure to materialistic media has a clear influence on women's body image, with trait materialism a further vulnerability factor for negative exposure effects in response to idealized, thin media models.

The influence of materialism and ideal body internalization on body‐dissatisfaction and body‐shaping behaviors of young men and women: Support for the Consumer Culture Impact Model

“…Also, they report a significant ( r = 0.21) correlation between internalization and materialism. Askihali and Dittmar () report both correlational and experimental findings to show the impact of materialism on body‐image. Their findings from three cross‐sectional studies all show strong positive correlations between materialistic values and internalization of body‐perfect ideals ( r s = 0.49 – 0.61).…”

Materialism, Stress and Health Behaviors among Future Educators

“…Materialistic values, for instance, have been negatively associated with subjective well-being (Karabati & Cemalcilar, 2010) whereas materialistic people exhibit lower levels of self-esteem that reduces their ability to cope with traumatic events (Ruvio, Somer, & Rindfleisch, 2013). Furthermore, regarding women's self image of their body weight, it has been suggested that a materialistic value orientation is negative in terms of causing dissatisfaction in response to the media and advertising idealized, thin models (Ashikali & Dittmar, 2012).…”

Immaculate consumption: negotiating the sex symbol in postfeminist celebrity culture

“…Yet while research has engaged with women's views on celebrity, much work has come from the perspective of identifying the negative effects of this culture on psychological concepts such as body-image and self-esteem (e.g. Maltby et al, 2005, Ashikali andDittmar 2011). Little research has documented how women negotiate celebrity [see for an exception Lumby (2007)].…”