Effects of Exposure to Information About Appearance Stereotyping and Discrimination on Body Image and Mood

The present experiment examined how information about societal appearance discrimination can affect current body image. Sixty-six female college students listened to audiotapes containing information about either appearance discrimination or an unrelated topic, television violence. Afterward, participants completed measures of mood and body-image states. They also completed the Appearance Schemas Inventory (ASI), an assessment of maladaptive investment in appearance (i.e., appearance schematicity). As expected, participants exposed to the appearance information subsequently reported significantly greater body-image dissatisfaction than did those in the Control condition. Conditions did not differentially affect mood state or ASI scores. Participants were divided into upper and lower tertiles on the ASI. High appearance schematics who were given appearance discrimination information scored significantly worse on body-image satisfaction than did low schematics. Also, whereas the two conditions did not differentially affect low schematics' body-image scores, high schematics who received appearance discrimination information reported significantly less body-image satisfaction than those who did not receive that information. Clinical, theoretical, and social implications of these findings are discussed.