Authors
Student Authors:
Hope R. Rutter '22, Gettysburg College
Kaley M. Michael '22, Gettysburg College
Cindy J. Campoverde-Reinoso '20, Gettysburg College
Thao Hoang '20 , Gettysburg College
Document Type
Poster
Date of Creation
11-2020
Department 1
Psychology
Abstract
Body positivity is a trending movement that promotes appreciation of one’s body, including acceptance of one’s appearance and perceived flaws. In two experiments, we compared the effects of body-positive social media content relative to idealized body content and neutral control content on young women’s psychological states. In study 1, participants were randomly assigned to view Instagram posts involving fitspiration photos, body positive photos, body positive quotes, or travel landscape photos. In study 2, participants were randomly assigned to view Instagram posts involving selfies of the same individuals’ faces with or without makeup. As predicted, viewing body positive content (body positive photos, quotes, and no-makeup selfies) resulted in better mood and self-perceptions than viewing idealized body content (fitspiration photos and selfies with makeup), especially among participants with higher disordered eating symptoms and/or low trait self-compassion, and these effects were mediated by a reduction in self-criticism. Expanding on previous research demonstrating the detrimental effects of exposure to fitspiration and other idealized images on social media, these results also provide empirical support for the benefits of exposure to content promoting body acceptance.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Rutter, H., Michael, K., Repak, B., Campoverde, C., Hoang, T., & Berenson, K. (November, 2020). #Bopo: The effect of body positive social media content on women’s mood and self-compassion. Poster presented at the annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Clinical Psychology at Liberal Arts Colleges Special Interest Group (CPLAC-SIG), Philadelphia, PA.
Included in
Community Psychology Commons, Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, Social Psychology Commons
Comments
Poster presented in Nov. 2020 at the annual convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Clinical Psychology at Liberal Arts Colleges Special Interest Group (CPLAC-SIG), Philadelphia, PA. This submission also won the CPLAC-SIG poster award for best student-initiated research.