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‘She Should Not Be a Model’: The Effect of Exposure to Plus-Size Models on Body Dissatisfaction, Mood, and Facebook Commenting Behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2021

Daniel Talbot ,
Hannah Mansfield ,
Samantha Hayes  and
Evelyn Smith
Daniel Talbot*
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith South, New South Wales, Australia School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Broadway, New South Wales, Australia
Hannah Mansfield
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith South, New South Wales, Australia
Samantha Hayes
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith South, New South Wales, Australia
Evelyn Smith
Affiliation:
School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Penrith South, New South Wales, Australia
*
*Corresponding author: Daniel Talbot, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW2751, Australia. Email: danieltalbot89@gmail.com
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Abstract

Objectives: The present study investigated the exposure effect of plus-size models on body dissatisfaction and mood, and the nature of participants’ commenting behaviour towards images of plus-size models. Method: The study was comprised of 92 female university students who were exposed to Facebook photos of plus-size models. Participants were randomly allocated to having the exposed photo paired with positive, negative, or neutral comments, and participants were asked to leave an anonymous comment on each picture. Results: Results showed that participants had less body dissatisfaction and better mood after exposure to plus-size models regardless of the comment condition. Additionally, comment condition significantly influenced the type of comments participants contributed — in photos paired with negative comments, participants were significantly more likely to leave negative comments themselves, with 40% of participants leaving negative comments compared with 4% in the positive condition, and 12% in the neutral condition. Conclusion: This study provides evidence that the negative comments of plus-size models can encourage bystanders to contribute negative comments themselves; reinforcing the need to develop better protocols to oppose cyberbullying and encourage an online environment of positivity.

Keywords

body imagebody dissatisfactionsocial mediacyberbullyingexposuremood
Type
Standard Paper
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 135 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy

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Footnotes

†

These authors are the joint first authors.

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