The effect of functionality-focused and appearance-focused images of models of mixed body sizes on women's state-oriented body appreciation

摘要

Research demonstrates that exposure to appearance-focused images of models depicting societal standards of beauty negatively affect women's state-oriented body dissatisfaction. The purpose of this research was to extend this experimental research to women's state-oriented body appreciation. The 374 women participants were randomly assigned to view images that were either depicting a model who was representative or not representative of the thin ideal (body size), while this model was in either an appearance-focused pose or a function-oriented pose (pose type). State body appreciation increased significantly after viewing images depicting models who did not conform to societal standards of thinness (p 0.001). Exposure to the control condition images, which were images of natural environments, also produced increases in state body appreciation (p = 0.049). These findings provide insight into the construct of state body appreciation and offer implications for future positive body image research. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.