Women’s and Men’s Eating Behavior Following Exposure to Ideal-Body Images and Text

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2006 33: 507Communication ResearchKristen Harrison, Laramie D. Taylor and Amy Lee Marske

Images and TextWomen's and Men's Eating Behavior Following Exposure to Ideal-Body

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Communication ResearchVolume 33 Number 6

December 2006 507-529© 2006 Sage Publications

10.1177/0093650206293247http://crx.sagepub.com

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Women’s and Men’s Eating Behavior Following Exposure to Ideal-Body Images and TextKristen HarrisonUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLaramie D. TaylorUniversity of California at DavisAmy Lee MarskeLibertyville High School, Libertyville, Illinois

Two experiments tested the effects of exposure to ideal-body images and text on youngadults’ eating behavior. Women viewed slides depicting images of slender female mod-els with no text, with diet- and exercise-related (congruent) text, with irrelevant (incon-gruent) text, or no slides (control). Men viewed slides depicting images of muscularmale models in the same four conditions. Among women with a discrepancy betweenperceptions of their actual body and the body their same-gender peers believe theyought to have, exposure to images alone and images plus congruent text led to a reduc-tion in the amount eaten in front of female peers. Among men with the same discrep-ancy, exposure to images alone and images plus congruent text led to an increase in theamount eaten in front of male peers. The distinctions between ideal-body images andtext as stimuli, and between male and female eating behaviors as self-presentationalstrategies, are considered in the discussion.

Keywords: media; ideal body; gender; eating; thin; muscular

Since 1990, when the late Lori Irving conducted one of the first experiments test-ing the effects of exposure to media images of the ideal female body on young

women’s perceptions of their own bodies (Irving, 1990), dozens of researchers havefollowed suit. To date, there are at least four dozen published experiments on thistopic, almost all of which measure the effects of exposure to ideal-body mediaimages on attitudinal variables such as estimates of body size, body dissatisfaction,depressive affect, and the drive for thinness and muscularity (for a review, see Levine& Harrison, 2004). Almost all of these articles reveal deleterious effects on self- and

Authors’ Note: Thanks to Jillian Barcham, Mike Dockum, Erin Donovan, Trek Glowacki, NicoleMartins, Becca Nieto, Jason Ramsey, and Gina Tassio for help with data collection. Correspondence con-cerning this article should be addressed to Kristen Harrison, PhD, Dept. of Speech Communication,University of Illinois, 244 Lincoln Hall, Urbana, IL 61802; e-mail: [email protected]



508 Communication Research

body esteem. Irving (1990) reported that undergraduate women exposed to imagesof thin models subsequently expressed more negative evaluations of their own bod-ies than women exposed to images of average or plus-size models. Stice and Shaw(1994) also found that exposure to thin-ideal photos increased negative mood andbody dissatisfaction among female undergraduates. Their findings have been repli-cated in experimental research using a number of related dependent measures,including self-esteem and derogatory self-evaluations (Thornton & Maurice, 1997;Wilcox & Laird, 2000), anger and depression (Pinhas, Toner, Ali, Garfinkel, &Stuckless, 1999), and negative mood and poor body image (Cattarin, Thompson,Thomas, & Williams, 2000).

Most of the studies cited above were conducted with all-female samples.Experiments involving both genders show males to be more resistant to adverse effectsof exposure, though not consistently so. One author (Kalodner, 1997) reported thatexposure to thin-ideal same-gender photos resulted in increased self-consciousnessand anxiety among women but not men; however, three other experiments revealedsignificant effects for both genders. Grogan, Williams, and Conner (1996) reporteddecreased body esteem in British undergraduates of both genders after exposure tophotos of attractive same-gender models. Likewise, Ogden and Mundray (1996)reported decreased body esteem after exposure of male and female medical studentsto magazine photos of thin same-gender models, and increased body esteem afterexposure to fat same-gender models. Finally, Lavine, Sweeney, and Wagner (1999)measured males’ and females’ judgments of their own body size after exposure to ide-alized same-gender images. Young women exposed to the images subsequently judgedtheir own bodies to be too large, whereas young men judged their own bodies to betoo small. Thus, when exposed to ideal-body media, both genders experienced a dis-crepancy between their actual and ideal bodies, but in opposite directions. In otherwords, both genders appear to experience increased body-image concerns followingexposure to gender-specific ideals, albeit in different ways.

The purpose of this article was to extend this line of research with men andwomen to the realm of actual, observed eating behavior following exposure to same-gender ideal-body imagery. Our goal was to determine not only whether eatingbehavior could be affected by such exposure but also to determine (a) the degree towhich a particular individual-level psychological variable (perceived discrepancybetween one’s actual body type and the body type one’s same-gender peers believeone ought to have) moderates this effect and (b) the extent to which the addition ofbody-relevant text to ideal-body imagery, a pairing common in fitness and fashionmagazines, renders the effect more or less potent.

Observed Eating Behavior as a Dependent Variable

Body-image concerns, especially body dissatisfaction, predict self-reported dietaryrestraint and disordered eating (Stice & Shaw, 1994), yet experimentation in the area of



ideal-body media exposure and actual, observed eating behavior is rare. This is a sourceof concern because, as Stice, Fisher, and Lowe (2004) demonstrated, self-report dietaryrestraint scales are not reliable predictors of short-term caloric intake measured withunobtrusive observation. Thus, research measuring actual food intake after exposure tomedia body ideals is needed. This need is underscored by research showing that eatingbehavior, especially in the presence of peers, is influenced by group norms (Clendenen,Herman, & Polivy, 1994; Crandall, 1988), which themselves may be influenced bymedia exposure.

To date, only two published studies exploring the effects of ideal-body mediaexposure have used actual observed eating behavior as a dependent measure. Themore recent of these (Jansen & de Vries, 2002) summarizes an experiment testingthe effects of preattentive (subliminal) exposure to female fashion models on femalecollege students. Students viewed eight slides, each of which was displayed for 15milliseconds, of thin models, fat models, or neutral images. Afterward, participantswere given plates of high-calorie foods and instructed to rate the taste of each food.The authors subsequently measured participants’ food intake and found no signifi-cant differences between participants who had viewed thin, fat, or neutral slides.They concluded that such images must be consciously processed to have an effecton viewers’ eating behaviors.

The second study (Strauss, Doyle, & Kreipe, 1994) made use of ideal-body stim-uli that were presented supraliminally, so participants were able to engage in con-scious processing. Four commercials for diet products, each of which featuredexplicit verbal and visual references to dieting and desirable body images, werespliced into a movie segment. Participants exposed to the commercials were com-pared to two control groups, one of which viewed the movie segment plus four non-diet-related commercials, the other of which viewed only the movie segment.Although they had expected that participants who were trying to lose weight andwere exposed to dieting commercials would eat less than other participants, theauthors found that these individuals ate almost twice as much as those in the twocomparison conditions. Nondieting participants exposed to the diet commercials, incontrast, exhibited a slight, nonsignificant tendency to eat less than the other twogroups. The authors reasoned that perhaps dieting participants exposed to diet com-mercials ate more to cope with the stress induced by the commercials.

Self-Discrepancies and Eating Behavior

The idea that eating behaviors may be used to cope with discomfort brought onby unfavorable social comparisons is not new. The findings of Strauss et al. (1994)are consistent with research (Markus et al., 1998) showing that emotional distress isalleviated by increased consumption of food, especially carbohydrates. Followingpredictions generated by self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987), which holds that discrepancies between varying viewpoints of self give rise to negative affect and

Harrison et al. / Women’s and Men’s Eating Behavior 509



psychological disturbance, a number of researchers have confirmed the link betweenself-discrepancies and disordered eating (Forston & Stanton, 1992; Harrison, 2001;Higgins, Vookles, & Tykocinski, 1992; Strauman & Glenberg, 1994; Strauman,Vookles, Berenstein, Chaiken, & Higgins, 1991). Self-discrepancy theory assumesthat individuals hold beliefs about who they are (the actual self), who they would liketo be (the ideal self), and who they ought to be (the ought self). The ideal and oughtselves (also called self-guides) may be from the perspective of the self or a signifi-cant other. When the actual self is discrepant from the ideal self, an ideal discrep-ancy exists (e.g., “my actual body is short but I would ideally like to be tall”). Idealdiscrepancies represent the absence of a desired positive outcome (Higgins, Bond,Klein, & Strauman, 1986). In contrast, when the actual self is discrepant from theought self, an ought discrepancy exists (e.g., “my actual body is round but myfriends think it should be slender”). Ought discrepancies represent the presence (orthreat) of a negative outcome (Higgins et al., 1986). When a discrepant individual isreminded of his or her discrepancy, he or she experiences emotional distress such asanxiety or depression (Strauman & Higgins, 1987) and is motivated to engage inself-regulatory behaviors, such as bingeing and purging or refraining from eating, torelieve the distress and reduce the discrepancy.

Strauman et al. (1991) predicted that ideal discrepancies would be related tobulimic symptomatology because bingeing behaviors are often used to cope with thedejection that arises when individuals feel they have failed to meet their personalideals. Likewise, ought discrepancies should be related to anorexic symptomatologybecause avoidance of food is often used to cope with the anxiety that arises whenindividuals feel they have failed to meet others’ expectations; thus, there is an impor-tant social aspect to ought discrepancies that is not shared by ideal discrepancies.Strauman et al.’s (1991) predictions were supported in studies by Strauman andGlenberg (1994) and Higgins et al. (1992), for women and men.

Given these theoretical tenets and the research support they have received, indi-viduals who score relatively high on a measure of body-related self-discrepanciesshould exhibit changes in subsequent eating behavior as a result of the activation ofthose discrepancies by exposure to ideal-body media. One type of self-discrepancy ofparticular relevance to the body concerns of young adults, especially those in highschool or college, is the discrepancy between the actual self and the “ought” self fromthe perspective of same-gender peers. Contrary to popular wisdom, studies show that the body-shape ideals young people choose for themselves are in fact a closermatch to what they believe their same-gender peers consider ideal than what theybelieve their opposite-gender peers consider ideal (Cohn & Adler, 1992; Gleaveset al., 2000; Harrison, 2003). Moreover, adolescent girls participating in a qualitativestudy (Milkie, 1999) reported that they personally resisted thin-ideal media messages;however, they nonetheless felt pressured to conform to the thin ideal because theybelieved that their peers “bought into” the media’s message and expected them toadhere to it. Thus, we predicted that ideal-body media exposure would interact withself-discrepancy status to produce changes in eating behavior, such that audience




members who score relatively high on a measure of “ought” discrepancies from theperspective of same-gender peers should be particularly likely to avoid eating afterexposure to ideal-body media.

Hypothesis 1: Compared with no exposure, exposure to ideal-body images should berelated to a decrease in eating behavior among women and men who score relativelyhigh on a measure of ought discrepancies from the same-gender peer perspective.

Images Alone Versus Images Plus Text

Research on the effects of exposure to images and text simultaneously suggeststhat the imagery-text combination enhances learning (for a review, see Carney &Levin, 2002), particularly when the images and text are compatible or redundant(Son, Reese, & Davie, 1987). Images of idealized bodies like those seen in fitnessand fashion magazines are rarely presented without text. Instead, they are typicallypaired with text explaining how readers can attain the depicted body shape them-selves, that is, text that is compatible or congruent with the image (Malkin, Wornian,& Chrisler, 1999). This text is not only instructive but also frequently has a motiva-tional tone (“You too can lose weight and firm up, with these easy steps!”). Whereasphotographic images of thin models rarely offer readers the opportunity to modelactual fat-loss behaviors, the images-plus-text layouts so common in popular maga-zines provide readers with the full array of elements to encourage social learning(Bandura, 1994): attention, retention, production, and motivation. The stimulating,attractive photograph attracts attention and facilitates retention, the inspirational textpersuades the reader that his or her production facilities are intact and capable of car-rying out the modeled behaviors, and the encouraging tone of the text motivates thereader to give the strategies a try. If the images themselves produce comparison-generated discomfort among discrepant individuals, the text may play a very impor-tant role in reducing this discomfort by providing a “solution” to the problem of thediscrepancy. It is as if the text is communicating to the reader, “If you follow thesebehaviors, your body will become similar to the one you see here, and your discrep-ancy will disappear.” Reducing the discrepancy between performance and goals is asignificant motivating factor for self-discrepant individuals, particularly those whoare uncertain about how to do so (Roney & Sorrentino, 1995). Because encouragingbody-improvement magazine text provides direction for self-discrepancy reduction,it should be soothing to high-discrepancy individuals. Following this line of reason-ing, then, anxiety and the resultant avoidance of eating should be less extreme amonghigh-discrepancy research participants exposed to images plus congruent text than itis among high-discrepancy participants exposed to images alone:

Hypothesis 2: Compared with no exposure, exposure to images plus congruent textshould produce less of a decrease in eating behavior than exposure to images aloneamong high-discrepancy women and men.




When comparing exposure to images alone with exposure to images plus congru-ent text, it would be tempting to conclude that any differences observed are due to thecontent of the text. It is possible, however, that an image paired with text may producea different effect than the image alone simply because the text distracts the viewer fromthe image. Time spent contemplating the text is time subtracted from contemplation ofthe image. Mayer and Moreno (1998), for instance, found that visual text did notenhance image-based learning as well as audio text, presumably because the demandsof processing visual text compete with the demands of processing images. If thedemands of processing visual text deplete resources for processing visual imagery,the content of the text would be unimportant, as long as it distracts the viewer from theimage. To support our contention that the content of congruent text is indeed impor-tant in producing the observed effects, it was necessary to expand our design to includean experimental condition in which the idealized images were paired with text that isirrelevant to (i.e., incongruent with) the depicted bodies. Thus, there were three expo-sure conditions to be compared (images only, images plus congruent text, images plusincongruent text). It was unclear whether the amount eaten by participants in the incon-gruent-text condition would differ from that eaten by participants in the congruent-textcondition, as both conditions featured text that might distract attention from theimages. It made sense, however, to expect incongruent-text participants to eat morethan images-only participants, given the incongruent text’s distraction potential. A research question was therefore posed:

Research Question 1: Relative to the other exposure conditions, what will be the effectof exposure to images plus incongruent text?

Method

Participants

Participants were 222 women and 151 men recruited to participate for partial fulfillment of research requirements in introductory communication courses at twolarge midwestern universities. The average female participant was age 19.62 years (SD = 1.12), 64.82 inches tall (SD = 3.15), and weighed 135.26 lbs (SD = 25.66). The average male participant was age 19.84 years (SD = 1.42), 70.45 inches tall (SD = 2.75), and 169.70 lbs (SD = 32.71). The mean body mass indices (BMI) ofwomen (22.68, SD = 4.40) and men (23.98, SD = 4.05) were within the optimal rangeof 20-25 (World Health Organization, 2003) and were very close to the 50th per-centiles for 20-year-old American women (about 21.8) and men (about 23.0;Cooperberg & Faith, 2004). The majority of participants (72.5%) were White, fol-lowed by 11.9% Asian American, 8.5% African American, 3.4% Latino/a, and 3.7% inother ethnic groups.




Procedure

Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: no exposure (N = 40women and 30 men), exposure to images only (N = 54 women and 35 men), expo-sure to the same images plus congruent text (N = 67 women and 50 men), and expo-sure to the same images plus incongruent text (N = 61 women and 36 men).Participation occurred in same-gender groups of three to nine, under the guidance ofa same-gender research assistant. There were no more than three groups of any givensize (for women) and no more than two groups of any given size (for men) withineach condition. The study took place over 16 weekdays, with 45-min afternoongroup sessions at 4:30, 5:15, 6:00, and 6:45. These are times when college studentsare typically starting to feel hungry for their evening meal but are unlikely to havealready eaten. Experimental conditions were rotated through the four time slots sothat no condition was confined to a single time slot. In other words, participants whosigned up for a given time slot were equally likely to end up in any of the four con-ditions, and all four conditions were represented during all four time slots.Participants in the three exposure conditions filled out a short questionnaire measur-ing demographic variables and ought discrepancies from the perspective of same-gender peers, then viewed a PowerPoint slide presentation, after which theyproceeded to a second classroom where they completed a follow-up questionnaire.Participants assigned to the no-exposure (control) condition proceeded directly tothe second classroom, where they completed the demographic and self-discrepancymeasures and the follow-up questionnaire.

It was in the second classroom, where the follow-up questionnaire was adminis-tered, that food was presented. A normal-weight, same-gender research assistantinvited participants to sit down at a long conference table and help themselves topretzels while they filled out their questionnaires. There were 12 full-size pretzels(3-in twists) in each of four bowls, spaced evenly so that they were within reach ofevery participant. The research assistant then immediately helped himself or herselfto two pretzels to discreetly signal that eating in the classroom was permitted. In allconditions, then, there was at least one pretzel eater (the research assistant) present.While participants filled out the follow-up questionnaire, the research assistantunobtrusively observed and recorded their eating behavior. On completion of thequestionnaire, participants were thanked and dismissed, and later sent a notice todebrief them about the purpose of the study.

Measures

We used the self-discrepancy questionnaire (Higgins et al., 1986) to measure body-specific ought self-discrepancies. This questionnaire has demonstrated high test–retestreliability and predictive validity (Higgins, 1999; Higgins et al., 1986; Strauman &Higgins, 1987). The questionnaire follows a free-response format, requiring participants




to list up to 10 attributes that describe their bodies and then rate those attributes on a 4-point scale according to how well they describe the body (1 = a little to 4 = extremely). The practice of prompting specific sets of attributes (e.g., those describ-ing the body or appearance specifically rather than the self in general) has been vali-dated in previous self-discrepancy research (Cobb, Cohen, Houston, & Rubin, 1998;Szymanski & Cash, 1995). Participants completed the actual-body list first, which com-menced with instructions to “list words that describe the type of body you believe youactually have now,” followed by the same-gender peer ought-body list, which com-menced with instructions to list words that describe the type of body “your same-sexpeers believe you ought to have (that is, believe it is your duty or responsibility tohave).” Following the coding and scoring procedure devised and validated by Higginset al. (1986), a coder proceeded through the ought list, comparing the words to those inthe actual list, and counting semantically synonymous words (“matches”), antonymouswords (“mismatches”), and words that were synonymous but whose ratings differed by2 or more points (“mismatches of degree”). All other word pairings are considered“nonmatches” and do not contribute to the final score. The final discrepancy score wasobtained by subtracting the matches from the mismatches using the following standardformula: 2(N mismatches) + (N mismatches of degree) – (N matches). More positivescores thus indicate greater discrepancies.

An independent second coder coded a random sample of 10% of the question-naires to obtain an estimate of intercoder reliability (Cohen’s kappa = .88). Cohen’skappa was used because each word pairing could be coded one of four ways (match,mismatch, mismatch of degree, nonmatch) and kappa corrects for agreement bychance (Fleiss, 1981). The range in discrepancy scores for females was –4 to 12,M = 1.33, SD = 2.53. The range for males was –5 to 6, M = .26, SD = 2.03. For thepurposes of analysis, a median split was performed on the discrepancy scores forfemales and males separately to produce four groups according to discrepancy sta-tus: high-discrepancy females (with a score of 1 or more), low-discrepancy females(with a score of less than 1), high-discrepancy males (with a score of 0 or more), andlow-discrepancy males (with a score of less than 0).

After completing the self-discrepancy measure, participants listed their height ininches and their weight in pounds. From these data each participant’s BMI (weight-to-height ratio) was calculated. Participants also indicated on open-ended measurestheir race and/or ethnicity, gender, and age.

The follow-up questionnaire, administered after exposure to the slides (and forno-exposure participants, immediately after the demographic inventory), containeda variety of self-concept measures. Because the dependent variable of interest forthis article was eating behavior unobtrusively observed during the administration ofthis second questionnaire, results for these measures are reported elsewhere.

Standard, 3-in, thin pretzels were selected as the ideal food for measuring eatingbehavior after exposure for several reasons. First, they are small enough that partic-ipants were likely to eat more than one, but large enough that participants were




forced to eat them one at a time rather than by the handful, which aided observation.Second, pretzels are carbohydrates, which have been linked to stress eating (Markuset al., 1998). Third, pretzels are generally regarded as safe “diet food,” that is, theyare low in fat and appeal to dieters and nondieters alike. Although some researchershave used foods such as candy bars (Fredrickson, Roberts, Noll, Quinn, & Twenge,1998) to measure restrained eating in nonmedia contexts, we felt that the use of high-fat and high-sugar foods in the current context might deter so many participants fromeating that it would be impossible to obtain adequate variance on the eating measure.Moreover, pretzels are a simple, cheap snack frequently offered to college studentsin academic and social settings and were less likely than more elaborate or expen-sive foods to arouse suspicion that eating behavior was being observed. To measureeating behavior, the research assistant recorded the number of pretzels eaten by eachindividual, and the total number eaten by the group, and the number of people in thegroup. There were no partially eaten pretzels, and none of the groups consumed allof the pretzels on the table.

Stimulus Materials

Participants in the three exposure conditions were told that they would be evalu-ating the appeal of rough page layouts for a magazine currently under development.Thirty images were projected, one at a time, onto a large screen at the front of theroom. Each image was pretimed to appear for 30 secs, after which it was replacedwith a plain slide bearing the statement, “The slide I just saw was appealing.”Participants had 10 secs to mark their responses, which could range from 1 (stronglydisagree) to 5 (strongly agree), on a paper handout. This item was presented solelyto legitimize the story that the study was about a magazine under development, soresults for this item are not reported. At the end of 10 secs, the next picture appearedon the screen. The whole process was repeated for all 30 images. Although theirstructure was the same, the study with males and the study with females are best con-sidered separate experiments because their stimulus imagery differed.

Male images. Male participants in the three exposure conditions viewed 30images of attractive young men whose bodies featured little body fat and large, well-defined muscles, particularly in the chest, arms, and abdomen. Most of the men wereshirtless or wore t-shirts or tank tops, and all wore shorts or pants. These 30 imageshad been selected from a larger pool of images with the assistance of a focus-grouppanel of 12 undergraduate males who were asked to identify those images that mostaccurately represented their own body ideals. Reasons for rejecting other imagesincluded hypermuscularity, in the case of several images that were so muscular thatthey appeared ridiculous to the panel; and homosexual overtones, in the case of sev-eral images in which the young man appeared to the panel to be attempting to seducea gay male observer.1 The final 30 images depicted muscular, fit men, about one half




posing and one half active, in natural surroundings. About two thirds (21) of the 30images depicted White men; the remaining images depicted Black (6), Latino (2),and Asian (1) men.

Each of the images was flanked on the right side by a colored vertical bar. In theimages-only condition, the bar was void of text. In the congruent- and incongruent-textconditions, the bar contained a short passage (50-70 words) in a contrasting color.Using motivational language, the passage in the congruent-text slides described waysto build muscle mass, improve muscle definition, and/or reduce fat. These passageswere paraphrased from real items found in a number of men’s fitness magazinessuch as Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. One example, whichaccompanied an image of a muscular man reclining against a rocky hillside,read:

Power Up Your Arms: Explore the wild outdoors and work those arms. You can go rock climbing, play beach volleyball, or get in the water for exercise. The naturalisticworkout promotes a balanced physique. You can try floating foam dumbbells in thewater. The water increases resistance and helps tone and develop arm, back, and chestmuscle—guaranteed!

In the incongruent-text condition, geography-oriented passages of the samelength, drawn from a number of Internet sites that provide geographical information,accompanied the same images. In this condition, for example, the image of the maledescribed above was accompanied by the following text:

Chile: Chile is located along an active zone in the earth’s crust and experiences numer-ous earthquakes. The rivers of Chile are generally short and swift-flowing, rising in thewell-watered Andean highlands and flowing generally west to the Pacific Ocean. TheLoa and Baker Rivers are the longest rivers, but those in the central portion of the coun-try are much more important because of their use for power production.

This type of incongruent text was chosen because it did not draw attention to theshapes of the bodies in the pictures but also did not appear to be awkwardly at oddswith the pictures’ visual content.

Female images. Female participants in the three exposure conditions viewed 30images of attractive young women whose bodies were markedly long, slender, andlean. These images were drawn from fashion, lifestyle, and fitness magazines suchas Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Vogue, Shape, and Elle. Unlike the men’s pictures, noneof the larger pool of female images was perceived by a preliminary panel of 12female undergraduates to be ridiculously thin or to have lesbian overtones, so thefinal 30 images were chosen by the research team based on their representativenessof the thin female ideal prevalent in modern fashion and fitness magazines. As with




the male models, most of the female models were partially clad, but there was nonudity. About two thirds (23) of the 30 images depicted White women; the remain-ing images depicted Black (2), Latina (3), and Asian (2) women.

As in the male images, each female image was flanked by a colored bar, and in the images-only condition, this bar was void of text. In the congruent- and incongruent-text conditions, the bar featured a contrasting-color passage of 50-70words. The passages in the congruent-text condition were culled and condensedfrom the women’s magazines listed above and used motivational language todescribe ways to become thinner and/or more toned. For example, next to an imageof a very thin woman wearing a tank top and shorts and walking on the beach, thefollowing text appeared:

Turn a day at the beach into a No-Sweat workout! To really slim and sculpt your legmuscles, walking in the sand at the beach will do the trick. The secret: The tension fromthe sand will give you curvy calves and tight thighs. For Maximum Effect: Try walk-ing quickly, jogging, or even a steady run. This will also improve cardio health and burncalories like mad!

The passages used in the women’s incongruent-text condition were the same as thosethat appeared in the men’s incongruent-text condition. In this condition, for example,the image of the female model described above was paired with the following passage:

Aruba: The population is largely a mixture of European and indigenous Caribbeanpeoples. Dutch is the official language, but many Arubans also speak Papiamento (a Spanish-based Creole with Portuguese, Dutch, and English elements) and English.Tourism, oil refining, and offshore banking are the economic mainstays of the island,although the island’s refinery was closed from 1985 to 1991.

Results

We chose an experimental design that required participants to eat in the presenceof same-gender peers to maximize the likelihood that same-gender-peer ought dis-crepancies would remain salient after exposure to the slides. This posed a potentialproblem, however, because an individual’s eating behavior may be affected by theeating behavior of those in close proximity (Bagozzi, Wong, Abe, & Bergami, 2000).Others’ avoidance of food can produce an inhibitory effect on a person’s tendency toeat, even if he or she is hungry; likewise, if others are openly eating, the individual’stendency to eat may be disinhibited, even in the absence of hunger (Crandall, 1988).We assumed that participants would notice whether other participants were eating. Itwas therefore necessary to deal with this potential problem in analysis. We calcu-lated the total number of pretzels eaten by other group members by subtracting the




number of pretzels eaten by each individual from the total number consumed by thegroup, then entered this variable as a covariate in analyses predicting individual pret-zel consumption from media exposure and self-discrepancy status. Thus the analy-ses represent the extent to which the stimuli affected individual eating behaviorcontrolling the amount eaten by other participants in the room. Given that BMImight also be expected to exert an effect on both reactions to ideal-body stimuli(Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 1997) and eating behavior (because largerpeople usually have larger appetites), we also entered BMI as a covariate. As a result,ANCOVAs were run separately for females and males with BMI and surroundinggroup eating behavior as covariates; experimental condition (no-exposure, images-only, congruent-text, and incongruent-text) and self-discrepancy status (high-discrepancy, low-discrepancy) as independent measures; and individual-level eatingbehavior as the dependent measure.2

For females, the ANCOVA tests of between-subjects effects revealed no significanteffect of BMI on pretzel consumption, F(1, 221) = 2.13, ns. However, the effect of group eating behavior was significant, F(1, 221) = 26.76, p < .001, !2 = .11, a find-ing that justifies the inclusion of group eating behavior as a covariate in the model.Neither the experimental manipulation, F(3, 221) = .50, ns, nor discrepancy status,F(1, 221) = 0.00, ns, exerted significant main effects on pretzel consumption but, asexpected, their interaction did, F(3, 221) = 2.91, p < .05, !2 = .04. Means, standarddeviations, and the results of post-hoc tests are presented in Table 1. As predicted inthe first hypothesis, the media manipulation resulted in decreased eating among high-discrepancy females exposed to the images-only and images-plus-congruent-text con-ditions. Contrary to the second hypothesis, there was no difference between these twoconditions; that is, the addition of congruent text did not change the effect of theimages. The addition of incongruent text, however, appears to have cancelled outthe effect of the images, possibly due to its distraction capacity. Indeed, participants inthe incongruent-text condition ate as much as or slightly more than those in the no-exposure condition. Differences between conditions were minimal and nonsignificantfor low-discrepancy females.

For males, the ANCOVA tests revealed no significant effect of BMI, F(1, 150) = .03,ns, nor of group eating behavior, F(1, 150) = 1.00, ns. The experimental manipula-tion did not exert a main effect on pretzel consumption, F(3, 150) = 1.53; however,discrepancy status did, F(1, 150) = 8.28, p < .01, !2 = .06. As for females, the interac-tion between the experimental manipulation and discrepancy status was significant,F(3, 150) = 2.99, p < .05, !2 = .05. Means, standard deviations, and the results of post-hoc tests are displayed in Table 1. In direct opposition to the first hypothesis, the mediamanipulation resulted in increased eating among high-discrepancy males exposed toimages-only and images-plus-congruent-text. Again, contrary to the second hypothe-sis, the addition of congruent text did not make a significant difference in the effect ofthe images.3 The addition of incongruent text, in contrast, brought the mean number of




pretzels eaten down to a level similar to that of the no-exposure condition. There wereno significant differences between conditions for low-discrepancy males.

Figure 1 plots the means for high- and low-discrepancy males and females alonga common y-axis of pretzel consumption. A clear pattern can be observed: For low-discrepancy females and males, the ideal-body media manipulation makes no dif-ference. Regardless of their exposure condition, low-discrepancy females ate onaverage about two pretzels (the same number the research assistant had eaten), andlow-discrepancy males ate about 2! pretzels. The average number of pretzels eatenby high-discrepancy females dropped to about one in the images-only and images-plus-congruent-text conditions, possibly because the number of such participants inthese conditions who ate no pretzels had increased.4 For males, the reverse seems tohave occurred: The average number of pretzels eaten by high-discrepancy males inthe images-only and images-plus-congruent-text conditions rose to about 6 and 6.5respectively, partly due to a tendency for some members of these groups to consumea comparatively high number of pretzels.5


Table 1Descriptive Statistics for Pretzel Consumption by Experimental

Condition, Gender, and Discrepancy Status

Experimental Condition

No Exposure Images Only Images + Text (C) Images + Text (I)M M M M

(SD) (SD) (SD) (SD)

FemalesHigh discrepancy 2.20b 1.03a .97a 2.65b

(2.72) (1.66) (1.34) (3.30)n = 20 n = 27 n = 35 n = 32

Low discrepancy 2.07a 1.82a 1.97a 1.78a

(2.36) (1.79) (2.67) (2.24)n = 20 n = 27 n = 32 n = 29

MalesHigh discrepancy 2.70a 5.96b, c 6.61c 3.38a,b

(3.62) (4.50) (3.97) (3.68)n = 14 n = 18 n = 25 n = 17

Low discrepancy 2.57a 2.54a 2.53a 2.75a

(3.26) (2.26) (2.95) (4.22)n = 16 n = 17 n = 25 n = 19

Note: (C) = congruent text; (I) = incongruent text. Post-hoc tests were conducted to compare the fourtreatment means for females and males of each discrepancy status. Means in the same row that do notshare a common subscript differ at p < .05 by the Tukey procedure.



Discussion

Exposure to ideal-body media images with and without congruent, body-relevanttext resulted in increased eating among high-discrepancy men and decreased eatingamong high-discrepancy women, relative to men and women who viewed no slidesor slides paired with incongruent text. These effects were independent of participants’


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High-Discrepancy MalesLow-Discrepancy MalesHigh-Discrepancy FemalesLow-Discrepancy Females

Figure 1Average Number of Pretzels Eaten by Experimental Condition,

Gender, and Discrepancy Status



own body mass and the amount eaten by their peers. The first hypothesis, that high-discrepancy individuals would avoid food after exposure to ideal-body media, wastherefore supported for women only. The prediction that the activation of ought dis-crepancies should be followed by restricted eating for women and men is a logicalextension of self-discrepancy theory and research. However, there are reasons whythe activation of body-related discrepancies in particular might have led to the oppo-site effect among men. When the discrepancy is related to nonbody criteria—academicachievement or wealth or romantic success, for instance—avoidance of food might bethe expected coping response for quelling the anxiety brought on by discrepancyactivation. According to Higgins (1987), self-discrepancy activation produces anemotional-motivational state characterized by affective discomfort (anxiety in thecase of ought discrepancies) and the desire to take action to reduce the discrepancy.If the discrepancy is specifically related to the size of the body, however, avoidingfood as a means of emotional relief and discrepancy reduction becomes problematic,particularly when one’s “ought” body is larger than one’s actual body.6 If a manbelieves his male peers expect him to be larger and more muscular than he is, not eat-ing might be perceived as a pointless and even risky strategy. Indeed, the anxietycaused by discrepancy activation might actually be relieved by eating more, espe-cially in the presence of one’s male peers. Doing so would accomplish two goals:First, it would bring the individual one step closer to reducing the discrepancy byhelping him bulk up (if only a little), and second, it would serve an ego-protectivefunction in the presence of his same-gender peers, whom he believes expect him tobe larger than he is. The idea that men would find it socially desirable to eat more and,therefore, be motivated to do so in the presence of other men is consistent withresearch by Pliner and Chaiken (1990) and Mori, Chaiken, and Pliner (1987), whofound that men ate more with male partners than with female partners.

Not eating, in contrast, seems particularly well-suited to coping with anxietycaused by discrepancy activation when one’s “ought” body is thinner than one’sactual body, as was the case for the high-discrepancy women in the current sample(see Footnote 6). In addition, it may be that men are not as sensitive as women to theeffects of viewing idealized bodies. Female audiences are routinely exposed to moreimages and messages about their gender’s ideal body than male audiences are totheirs (Andersen & DiDomenico, 1992), so women may have learned to immedi-ately associate pictures of slender women with dieting tactics, even if these tacticsare not explicitly stated. Moreover, just as eating more may help a man demonstratehis masculinity to his same-gender peers, eating less may serve as an impressionmanagement strategy for women who feel the need to reinforce or demonstrate theirfemininity in front of other women. Several studies point to the tendency for womenwhose femininity has been made salient to restrain their eating in the presence ofothers (Fredrickson et al., 1998; Mori et al., 1987, Pliner & Chaiken, 1990).

The notion that men with body-related discrepancies should eat more rather thanless after exposure to beefy male models may seem intuitive. However, we did notpredict gender differences because a strict interpretation of self-discrepancy theory




and research findings (e.g., Higgins et al., 1992; Strauman et al., 1991) led to iden-tical expectations for females and males. Yet our results underscore the need forqualification. In keeping with self-discrepancy theory and research, the tendency toavoid food may be the preferred response among men and women dealing with anx-iety caused by the activation of most kinds of self-discrepancies, with the exceptionof those that explicitly reflect the belief that one’s body is not as large as othersexpect it to be. In such a situation, eating may actually provide more comfort andreassurance, especially for men, because it reinforces masculinity and serves a valu-able impression management function. For women, in contrast, eating less serves afemininity-reinforcing function while simultaneously helping alleviate any anxietybrought about by exposure to discrepancy-activating stimuli.

The second hypothesis predicted that the addition of body-relevant, congruent textto the images would result in less of an exposure effect for high-discrepancy womenand men because the text would provide instructions for discrepancy reduction, alongwith motivation and encouragement. This hypothesis was not supported; there was nodifference between the images-only and images-plus-congruent-text conditions forwomen or men. Comparison with the incongruent-text condition provides someinsight into the general function of text in the current study, and also addressesResearch Question 1. The eating behavior of the men and women in the incongruent-text conditions was no different from that of participants in the control (no-exposure)condition. Thus, the incongruent text appears to have done one of two things. First, itmay have distracted viewers from the images. Recall that each image and its accom-panying text were projected for 30 secs. Time spent reading the text was time sub-tracted from processing the image. It is unlikely that distraction was the only processat work, however, because the congruent text should have been just as distracting asthe incongruent text, in terms of time spent perusing the words instead of the images.7

With 30 secs to view each picture plus 50 to 70 words of text, participants had ampletime to read the passage and still gaze at the images. A second and perhaps more plau-sible explanation is that the incongruent text reframed the images so that they werenot as likely to be processed as “ideal-body” images. Because the incongruent textconsisted mostly of third-person language whereas the congruent text consisted of thetype of second-person, motivational language typical of fitness and fashion maga-zines, the incongruent text was less likely than the congruent text to activate percep-tions of participants’ own body ideals. The incongruent text also consisted ofgeographical information, chosen to make the pairing of the words and images seemplausible without drawing attention to the models’ bodies. Thus, the geographicalpassages in the incongruent-text condition might have led viewers to process theimages according to a “vacation” or “travel” schema rather than an “ideal-body”schema. In other words, the incongruent text may have worked to take the focus offthe way the models looked and place it onto what they were doing. This distinctionbetween the way the body looks and what it can do has been made by Harrison and




Fredrickson (2003) in research on women’s sports media and self-objectification infemale adolescents. The possibility that the incongruent text reframed the images is substantiated by the fact that even participants in this condition who scored high on the discrepancy measure did not eat any more or less than control participants,presumably because their discrepancies were not activated by exposure to the imageswhen they were paired with incongruent text.

In other words, whereas framing research has often focused on how images maybe used to cast new meanings on words (Barnett, 2003; Messaris & Abraham, 2001),here it appears that the words may have cast new meaning on the images. This sug-gests that problematic effects of ideal-body images might be attenuated by pairingthem with text that draws attention away from the body shapes portrayed and towardthe bodies’ actions or surrounding context. Such a possibility certainly warrantsfuture exploration, not only in the domain of eating behavior but also in the domainsof body satisfaction, mood, and related self-perceptions. Replications of our researchemploying cognitive-processing measures would be very useful in determining howideal-body images and text are processed together. Whatever the character of thisprocessing, the finding that incongruent, body-irrelevant text offered some protec-tion against the effects of the images suggests that one way to reduce effects of expo-sure to idealized images is to provide viewers with information that is eitherirrelevant or that reframes the images to take viewers’ focus off the models’ appear-ance and place it onto their actions or environment.

To return to the findings regarding images-only versus images-plus-congruent-text, it appears that the addition of the congruent text neither added to nor subtractedfrom the impact of the images alone. Contrary to the second hypothesis, there was noevidence that the ideal-body text provided any relief by offering viewers discrepancy-reducing strategies. The relative power of words and images is difficult to assess;however, there is reason to believe that images, with their superior vividness andmemorability (Zillmann, 2002), may play a more prominent role than text in deter-mining the outcomes that follow exposure to media employing an images-plus-textformat, such as magazines, newspapers, and television advertisements. As Barnett(2003) reported in an experiment on the effects of television news crime stories,visual information was more influential than audio information in biasing audienceperceptions of crime suspects. It appears that visual information may have trumpedtextual information in the current study as well. Unrelated text may distract viewersfrom ideal-body images; however, the addition of complementary text does not seemto increase their effect (but see Footnote 3). Why is this? We cannot say for certainfrom our data; however, there are at least two possibilities: First, the text may simplyhave little additional effect in comparison with the imagery, as suggested above.Second, congruent text may distract attention from the images but in doing so replacesthe effect of the images with its own, similar effect. This replacement would havebeen masked in our findings and would appear as equal effects for images-only and




images-plus-congruent-text conditions. In any case, the vast majority of research on thetopic of ideal-body media effects has focused exclusively on images, separated fromthe text that usually accompanies them (e.g., Grogan et al., 1996; Ogden & Mundray,1996). The current study provides some insight into the roles played by the additionof different types of text to these images, along with suggestions for future studieson the effects of ideal-body imagery with and without text.

Our findings go beyond previous studies whose authors measured attitudes infavor of restraint, by showing that ideal-body media content actually encouragesbehavioral abstinence from food, at least among high-discrepancy women. How longthis abstinence lasts, however, is a question we cannot answer. It is possible that theinhibitory effect dissipates within a few minutes of exposure. Moreover, the food ofchoice for the current study was pretzels, a snack that is generally considered “safe”by dieters.8 What might the effects be had we used richer, sweeter, or otherwise “for-bidden” foods? Furthermore, how might the initial eating behaviors of their peershave influenced individual respondents’ decision to eat? We measured overall groupeating behavior in addition to individual eating behavior; however, we did not codethe number of other participants (barring the research assistant) who ate before eachparticipant did. It seems reasonable that enticement to eat in a given social settingshould become stronger as time goes by and more and more people in that settingchoose to eat (or not to eat). Furthermore, the fact that we had the research assistanteat first in all conditions may have resulted in a greater number of pretzels eatenoverall than if, for instance, a research confederate posing as a participant had eatenfirst. Replications of this work might produce more accurate estimates of real-worldeating behavior with the use of food-consumption models who do not occupy posi-tions of authority in the research environment.

Regardless of the foods comprising their diet, if highly discrepant females are fre-quent users of ideal-body media content, our data suggest that their days may bemarked by recurring if temporary episodes of media-produced dietary restraint. Thesame question may be asked of high-discrepancy males and their tendency to eatmore after exposure to ideal-body slides. Although an increase from 2! to about 5!pretzels can hardly be called gorging, if such behavior is exhibited frequently over anumber of days or weeks, changes in body mass could result in the long term.

Equally intriguing as the findings for high-discrepancy women and men is the lackof differences for low-discrepancy women and men. These participants seemed unaf-fected by ideal-body media exposure and ate the same amount (a polite two to threepretzels, similar to the number eaten by the research assistant) regardless of condition.This finding substantiates other research (e.g., Harrison, 2001) suggesting that peoplewith body-related self-discrepancies are particularly vulnerable to the effects of ideal-body media. It may be that low-discrepancy participants are also less driven by theneed for impression management (Pliner & Chaiken, 1990), and part of the reason theydo not report a sizable discrepancy between the way they see themselves and what they




believe their peers expect of them is that they pay little attention to their peers’ expec-tations in general. Those with higher scores on the same discrepancy measure, in con-trast, seem to have monitored their eating behavior in front of their same-gender peers,possibly to present a more desirable, gender-consistent self to others. The inclusion ofa self-monitoring scale might have captured this process. Furthermore, the questionremains whether such eating effects would have been observed had each participanteaten in isolation rather than in a group, or with a group of opposite-gender others.These are possible alterations to our design that could be incorporated into futureexperimental replications or extensions.

In summary, exposure to ideal-body images alone and paired with congruent,body-relevant text led some women to eat about one pretzel fewer than other women,and some men to eat about three pretzels more than other men. How do these find-ings translate to everyday eating patterns, and what are the long-term consequences?In answer to this question, it is difficult to overstate the importance of everyday,moment-to-moment decisions in shaping the quality of a life. Abstinence from a fewpretzels a day (about 100 calories) can result in the loss of more than a pound of fatduring the course of a year (Bird, 1996), and the addition of same can do the oppo-site. If a woman is a regular user of ideal-body media such as fitness and fashionmagazines, not to mention television programming featuring advertisements for dietfoods and products, she may be moved to abstain from eating several times a day evenwhen she is hungry, resulting in significant weight loss over time. Similarly, a manwho is vulnerable to ideal-male images due to the presence of a self-discrepancy maybe moved to eat even when he is not hungry, just to reassure himself and other menthat he is sufficiently masculine. The findings of the current study show that thiseffect occurs regardless of body mass. Eating in response to external cues rather thaninternal hunger signals is one of the first steps involved in the development of disor-dered eating (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), be it anorexia, bulimia, orcompulsive eating (Hu, Li, Colditz, Willett, & Manson, 2003). Our commercial massmedia are filled with such external cues. It is our hope that future studies will bedevoted to furthering our understanding of how young people, especially those whoare most vulnerable, can resist the pull of those cues.

Notes1. It was important to eliminate any images that were perceived to have homosexual overtones, as het-

erosexual participants might consciously or unconsciously reject such images as personal ideals to avoididentification with homosexuality.

2. We also ran hierarchical regression analyses using dummy coding to compare experimental condi-tions. The results of these analyses were essentially the same as the results of the ANCOVAs, with signifi-cant interactions between discrepancy scores and experimental conditions. Regression analysis allows oneto test interactions with individual-difference variables such as discrepancy scores without forcing thosescores into categories, which reduces variance. However, we opted to present our analyses in terms of the




original ANCOVAs for three reasons. First, the predicted interactions were significant, even with the reduc-tion in variance resulting from splitting participants into discrepancy groupings. Second, the group meansand difference tests associated with ANCOVA are straightforward and easy to interpret. Third, there is ameaningful difference between high- and low-discrepancy scorers. For those who score in the positive range,the unsatisfactory aspects of their bodies essentially outweigh the satisfactory aspects; the reverse is true forthose who score in the negative range. In the current study the self-discrepancy median was near zero(females) or equal to zero (males); thus, this conceptual difference between high- and low-discrepancy scor-ers was reflected in our sample.

3. The cell sizes displayed in Table 1 suggest that for high-discrepancy men, the failure to find the difference between the images-only score and the higher images-plus-congruent-text score statisticallysignificant may have been one of inadequate power. Had the cell sizes been larger, this difference wouldhave been significant, with the implication that images plus congruent text have a stronger effect on high-discrepancy men’s eating behavior than images alone.

4. The proportion of females in each condition who ate no pretzels was 40.0% in the no-exposure con-dition, 59.4% in the images-only condition, 51.4% in the images-plus-congruent-text condition, and48.7% in the images-plus-incongruent-text condition. In our ANCOVAs the decision of surroundinggroup members not to eat was assigned a score of 0, which represents zero influence. In recognition ofthe possibility that individual participants may have noticed and been influenced by this restraint, we ranANCOVAs with the number of noneaters in each participant’s group as a covariate instead of the numberof pretzels eaten by the group as a whole. Neither of these analyses (done separately for women and men)yielded significant results.

5. Overall only 21.7% of males ate no pretzels, compared to 47.8% of females. Within the no-exposuregroup, all of the high-discrepancy males ate between 0 and 6 pretzels, with the exception of one man whoate 16. Within the images-only group, the greatest number eaten by high-discrepancy males was 16 as well; however, there were 7 participants who ate more than 6 pretzels. Within the images-plus-congruent-text group, the range was even greater (0 to 19). Within the images-plus-incongruent-textgroup, the greatest number of pretzels eaten was only 12. Thus the mean differences for high-discrepancymen seem to be due at least in part to differences in each condition in the number of men willing to eat alot of pretzels. It should be noted as well that, because no group finished all of the food set in front of them, we need not worry about the possibility that one group member’s overconsumption forced a ceiling on the possible consumption of the other group members.

6. The coding for the self-discrepancy measures does not account for direction (e.g., larger, smaller,thinner, fatter); however, examination of the words listed in the actual and ought lists suggested that themajority of high-discrepancy women thought their same-gender peers expected them to have thinner,smaller bodies, whereas the majority of high-discrepancy men thought their same-gender peers expectedthem to have larger, more muscular bodies.

7. This is assuming that the congruent- and incongruent-text passages were equally readable or com-prehensible. Examination of the examples in the Method section suggests that both types of passagesshould have been easy for college students to read; however, in future research a readability test could beused to confirm this.

8. These experiments were conducted just prior to the national explosion in the popularity of low-carbohydrate diets. Many individuals following such diets undoubtedly no longer consider pretzels “safe.”

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Kristen Harrison (PhD, University of Wisconsin) studies mass communication processes and effects,with an emphasis on media effects on children’s and adolescents’ body- and eating-related cognitions,emotions, and behaviors.

Laramie D. Taylor (PhD, University of Michigan) studies the psychological effects of media messages,particularly as they influence health-related outcomes such as recall of sexual information and attitudestoward risky sexual behavior.

Amy Lee Marske (MA, University of Illinois) was a graduate student of speech communication at thetime the current study was conducted. She now teaches high school in Libertyville, Illinois.




Women’s and Men’s Eating Behavior Following Exposure to Ideal-Body Images and Text

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