Body Image

It is widely known that physical appearance is highly valued in our culture, particularly among women. It is also known that have dissatisfaction with one's appearance can lead to low self-esteem and eating disorders. But can it have a broader mental effect? Social psychologist Barbara Fredrickson of the University of Michigan decided to test it out. They gathered a group of undergraduate students, 40 men and 42 women. The students were asked to go into a room one at a time and try on either a sweater or a swimsuit. They would be alone in the room and had a full-length mirror to view themselves in when they tried the clothing on. They were told that the idea of the test was to measure whether or not they liked the garment better after wearing it for 15 minutes. They were also asked to help researchers with an independent project by using the 15 minutes completing a 20-question advanced maths test.

The results were startling. The men did about the same on the test whether they were wearing a swimsuit or a sweater. The women, however, had significantly lower maths scores if they were wearing the swimsuits. The authors published their findings in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Source: reported at abcnews.com

Applications: women, beauty, gender, self image, self esteem, self worth.