What social psychological factors are in motion when media is shown to young girls? As the study that was discussed earlier on what a healthy body should look like and what influences a healthy body, it states that the focus group explained many thoughts that go through their head when they are personally exposed to the culture of seemingly acceptable physical appearance. These thoughts created a shared theme relating to self-discrepancy and social comparison when presented with these individuals. An additional study on body dissatisfaction and thinness was conducted by Gayle Bessenoff. According to the Bessenoff (2006), self-discrepancy is “representations in the self-concept of ways in which one falls short of some important standard”.
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I believe that we are able to relate the researched types of media despite the fact their focus was not on social media because social media allows you to obtain the same information that has been linked to body dissatisfaction. Pictures, TV, and music videos are all forms of media that have been shown to decrease body dissatisfaction due to the discrepancy and social comparison of the audience. Since social media gives you information on real people in our culture and what is acceptable in our culture, the media often displays and shares successful, “beautiful”, thin, flawless individuals in which our culture defines as acceptable. Pictures, TV, and music videos depict thin and flawless females where we as a society eventually define as the standard for all females. Posts on celebrities are often shared, but even normal girls that are similar in body shape to these celebrities are shared. Celebrities are often looked up to because of their successes and individuals see their success by how they present themselves. The number of likes, retweets, favorites, and number of times something was shared is how norms are created. If everyone thinks a specific body type or look is accepted, then the norm is that body type. This then influences users to compare themselves upwardly because of the discrepancy between their physical appearance and the displayed person’s physical appearance leading to body dissatisfaction. We start to see a common theme in all popular media which is that they all have the same physical features. Then, because exposure to this information is easily accessible, individuals are always up to speed with what is trending. Social media is so attractive to many users because they can communicate easily as well as see into the lives of their favorite celebrities. Social media use and body
I believe that we are able to relate the researched types of media despite the fact their focus was not on social media because social media allows you to obtain the same information that has been linked to body dissatisfaction. Pictures, TV, and music videos are all forms of media that have been shown to decrease body dissatisfaction due to the discrepancy and social comparison of the audience. Since social media gives you information on real people in our culture and what is acceptable in our culture, the media often displays and shares successful, “beautiful”, thin, flawless individuals in which our culture defines as acceptable. Pictures, TV, and music videos depict thin and flawless females where we as a society eventually define as the standard for all females. Posts on celebrities are often shared, but even normal girls that are similar in body shape to these celebrities are shared. Celebrities are often looked up to because of their successes and individuals see their success by how they present themselves. The number of likes, retweets, favorites, and number of times something was shared is how norms are created. If everyone thinks a specific body type or look is accepted, then the norm is that body type. This then influences users to compare themselves upwardly because of the discrepancy between their physical appearance and the displayed person’s physical appearance leading to body dissatisfaction. We start to see a common theme in all popular media which is that they all have the same physical features. Then, because exposure to this information is easily accessible, individuals are always up to speed with what is trending. Social media is so attractive to many users because they can communicate easily as well as see into the lives of their favorite celebrities. Social media use and body