Lin, L.F. and Kulik, J.A.

¶ … Lin, L.F. And Kulik, J.A. "Social Comparison and Women's Body Satisfaction."

Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 2 (2002): 115 -- 123.

The research project was designed to investigate the degree to which exposure to images of peers of varying levels of perceived attractiveness would influence the manner in which females viewed their own levels of relative attractiveness. In principle, the issue is highly relevant to contemporary society because of the apparent negative influence on the body image and self-esteem of women in connection with perpetual exposure to idealized images of models, actresses, and other female entertainment figures whose extremely high level of physical attractiveness typically sets an unrealistically high standard by which many women judge themselves. A large volume of prior research suggests that there is a direct correlation between exposure to such images and self-criticism in relation to physical attractiveness, a direct correlation between exposure to media images and self-image, as well as a direct correlation between body image satisfaction and eating disorders and depression in women.

The investigation employed an experimental design in which there were three main hypotheses and one secondary hypothesis. The experimenters wanted to measure the degree to which exposure to a female peer who is (objectively) very attractive or not very attractive might influence the self-perception of attractiveness and self-esteem. More specifically, the experiment involved the use of an objective measurement in the form of standardized tools such as questionnaires about self-image and self-esteem and an experimental situation in which participants were led to believe they were competing with a peer for selection by an attractive male peer for a date.

There were two experimental groups and one control group. The experimental groups consisted of participants who believed they were competing with a very thin peer or a considerably overweight peer. Because the main focus of the study was on the relationship between exposure to images to attractive women and self-image in relation to body image, the experimental design sought to eliminate the variable of facial attractiveness. To limit the data to perceptions about differences in body image, the design used the same facial photograph for all of the photos of different body images. Further, the experimenter selected a peer considered to be of neutral attractiveness for the facial portion of the images. The experimental groups believed either (1) that they were competing against a peer who was attractively thin or (2) that they were competing against a peer who was unattractively heavy. The control group was not shown any images of the supposed competitor.

The three primary hypotheses were: (1) that women shown an image of an attractively thin competitor would exhibit lower levels of satisfaction with their own body image; (2) women shown the image of a comparatively unattractive competitor would exhibit higher levels of satisfaction with their body image in that there would be a reverse effect associated with exposure to less attractive competitors (i.e. their self-perception would improve as compared with the experimental groups exposed to the attractively thin supposed competitor); and (3) the effect would be similar with respect to self-esteem and exposure to the images. The secondary hypothesis was that the effect of exposure to the images would be mitigated by the fact that any subject was in an intimate relationship at the time of the experiment. The independent variables were the relative attractiveness of the supposed competitor and (for the secondary hypothesis) the involvement of the participant in an intimate relationship. The dependent variables were self-perception about body image, self-esteem, and (secondarily) the relevance of relationship status on the results.