Effects of filtered vs. unfiltered TikTok videos on mood, body and facial satisfaction, and cosmetic surgery interest

This study investigated the effects of exposure to unfiltered vs. filtered idealized TikTok videos in a sample of 299 adult women, ages 18-83-years-old. Participants were randomly assigned to view idealized unfiltered, idealized filtered, or travel videos. Participants exposed to a control group of travel videos reported lower levels of negative affect compared to those exposed to filtered and unfiltered idealized videos. Women in the unfiltered condition, but not the filtered condition, reported lower facial satisfaction compared to the control group. There were no significant differences between any conditions on body satisfaction or interest in cosmetic surgery, and the experimental conditions did not significantly differ in any outcome measures. Age moderated the effect of idealized videos on mood; older adults reported lower levels of negative affect when exposed to the control condition compared to the experimental conditions, whereas this relationship was not present in younger participants. The findings that the filtered and unfiltered videos did not significantly differ from each other suggests that viewing idealized content in any form may have similar effects. While our findings suggest that the addition of filters did not increase risk for participants' appearance concerns or negative mood in our current sample, we recommend additional work in this area.