TY - JOUR
T1 - Uploading your best self
T2 - Selfie editing and body dissatisfaction
AU - Tiggemann, Marika
AU - Anderberg, Isabella
AU - Brown, Zoe
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - Social media have given rise to new forms of self-presentation, in particular, the posting of self-portrait photos, commonly known as “selfies.” The aim of the present study was to experimentally investigate the relationship between selfie editing and body dissatisfaction. Participants were 130 women aged 18–30 years who were asked to view Instagram images of thin women or of average-sized women, with a view to inducing body dissatisfaction in the former group. Participants were then asked to take a selfie on an iPad and were given 10 min. to edit the selfie. They completed state measures of mood, body dissatisfaction, and facial dissatisfaction at baseline, after viewing the images, and after editing their selfies. It was found that although viewing the thin images increased negative mood and body/facial dissatisfaction, experimental condition had no effect on the time spent or extent of editing of the selfie. However, taking and editing the selfie resulted in increased negative mood and facial dissatisfaction in both groups. Further, the observed extent of editing predicted the degree of increase in facial dissatisfaction. It was concluded that investing heavily in and editing one's self-presentation on social media is a detrimental activity for young women.
AB - Social media have given rise to new forms of self-presentation, in particular, the posting of self-portrait photos, commonly known as “selfies.” The aim of the present study was to experimentally investigate the relationship between selfie editing and body dissatisfaction. Participants were 130 women aged 18–30 years who were asked to view Instagram images of thin women or of average-sized women, with a view to inducing body dissatisfaction in the former group. Participants were then asked to take a selfie on an iPad and were given 10 min. to edit the selfie. They completed state measures of mood, body dissatisfaction, and facial dissatisfaction at baseline, after viewing the images, and after editing their selfies. It was found that although viewing the thin images increased negative mood and body/facial dissatisfaction, experimental condition had no effect on the time spent or extent of editing of the selfie. However, taking and editing the selfie resulted in increased negative mood and facial dissatisfaction in both groups. Further, the observed extent of editing predicted the degree of increase in facial dissatisfaction. It was concluded that investing heavily in and editing one's self-presentation on social media is a detrimental activity for young women.
KW - Body dissatisfaction
KW - Body image
KW - Digital alteration
KW - Photo-editing
KW - Selfies
KW - Social media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85082195411&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP150101295
U2 - 10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.03.002
DO - 10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.03.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85082195411
SN - 1740-1445
VL - 33
SP - 175
EP - 182
JO - Body Image
JF - Body Image
ER -