Kathrin Karsay

Sexually Objectifying Pop Music Videos, Young Women’s Self-Objectification, and Selective Exposure: A Moderated Mediation Model

There is intense discussion among experts about the potential negative impact of sexually objectifying media content on young women. This article presents an experimental study in which young women were either exposed to pop music videos high in sexual objectification or to pop music videos low in sexual objectification. Women’s self-objectification and their subsequent media selection behavior were measured. The results indicate that exposure to sexually objectifying media increased self-objectification, which in turn increased the preference for objectifying media content. Self-esteem, the internalization of appearance ideals, and body mass index (BMI) did not influence these relationships. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Sexualizing Media Use and Self-Objectification: A Meta-Analysis

Objectification theorists suggest that exposure to sexualizing media increases self-objectification among individuals. Correlational and experimental research examining this relation has received growing attention. The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the influence of sexualizing media use on self-objectification among women and men. For this purpose, we analyzed 54 papers yielding 50 independent studies and 261 effect sizes. The data revealed a positive, moderate effect of sexualizing media on self-objectification (r = .19). The effect was significant and robust, 95% CI [.15, .23], p < .0001. We identified a conditional effect of media type, suggesting that the use of video games and/or online media led to stronger self-objectification effects when compared to television use. Other sample characteristics or study characteristics did not moderate the overall effect. Thus, our findings highlight the importance of sexualizing media exposure on women’s and men’s objectified self-concept. We discuss future research directions and implications for practice. We hope that the article will stimulate researchers in their future work to address the research gaps outlined here. Moreover, we hope that the findings will encourage practitioners and parents to reflect on the role of the use of sexualizing media in the development of individuals’ self-objectification. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl10.1177/0361684317743019

A treat for the eyes. An eye-tracking study on children\'s attention to unhealthy and healthy food cues in media content

Based on cue reactivity theory, food cues embedded in media content can lead to physiological and psychological responses in children. Research suggests that unhealthy food cues are represented more extensively and interactively in childrens media environments than healthy ones. However, it is not clear to this date whether children react differently to unhealthy compared to healthy food cues. In an experimental study with 56 children (55.4% girls; Mage = 8.00, SD = 1.58), we used eye-tracking to determine childrens attention to unhealthy and healthy food cues embedded in a narrative cartoon movie. Besides varying the food type (i.e., healthy vs. unhealthy), we also manipulated the integration levels of food cues with characters (i.e., level of food integration; no interaction vs. handling vs. consumption), and we assessed childrens individual susceptibility factors by measuring the impact of their hunger level. Our results indicated that unhealthy food cues attract childrens visual attention to a larger extent than healthy cues. However, their initial visual interest did not differ between unhealthy and healthy food cues. Furthermore, an increase in the level of food integration led to an increase in visual attention. Our findings showed no moderating impact of hunger. We conclude that especially unhealthy food cues with an interactive connection trigger cue reactivity in children.

Adopting the Objectifying Gaze: Exposure to Sexually Objectifying Music Videos and Subsequent Gazing Behavior

ABSTRACT We investigated the effects of exposure to sexually objectifying music videos on viewers’ subsequent gazing behavior. We exposed participants (N = 129; 68 women, 61 men) to music videos either high in sexual objectification or low in sexual objectification. Next, we measured participants’ eye movements as they viewed photographs of 36 women models with various body shapes (i.e., ideal size model, plus size model) and degree of dress (i.e., fully dressed, scantily dressed, partially clad). Results indicated that sexually objectifying music videos influenced participants’ objectifying gaze upon photographs of women with an ideal size, but not plus size, body shape. Interestingly, that effect neither differed among men and women nor depended upon the models’ degree of dress. Altogether, once primed with sexually objectifying imagery, participants looked at women’s sexual body parts more than they looked at women’s faces.

How Social and Mass Media Relate to Youth’s Self-Sexualization: Taking a Cross-National Perspective on Rewarded Appearance Ideals

Although media exposure has been related to cognitive preoccupation with appearance, research rarely investigated adolescents’ behavioral self-sexualization. To address this gap, the present study among 12- to 16-year-olds (N = 1527; 50.2% girls) in Austria, Belgium, Spain, and South-Korea (1) investigates whether different types of media use relate to self-sexualization, (2) explores the explanatory value of rewarded appearance ideals, and (3) considers culture and gender as moderating factors. Despite cultural variation, a general trend of increasing self-sexualization with social media use and magazine reading appeared across the countries. Moreover, women’s magazine reading and rewards were related to self-sexualization among all the girls across the countries, which suggests that girls may be more vulnerable to the examined effects. Overall, this study provides a better understanding of the unique contribution of specific media genres to youth’s self-sexualization and points at the importance of social media use in girls’ and boys’ engagement in sexualizing appearance behaviors across four countries.

“Weak, Sad, and Lazy Fatties”: Adolescents’ Explicit and Implicit Weight Bias Following Exposure to Weight Loss Reality TV Shows

ABSTRACT Weight loss reality TV shows, which portray obese individuals and their struggle to lose weight, are highly popular. However, the shows often contain negative and stereotypical portrayals of obese individuals that can contribute to the formation of weight bias among viewers. In particular, adolescents might be highly susceptible to such portrayals, since physical appearance and body image play an important role during adolescence. In our experimental study, we investigated the priming effects of exposure to weight loss reality TV shows on implicit and explicit attitudes toward obese individuals among 353 adolescents. We exposed a treatment group (n = 173) to video clips of a weight loss reality TV show and a control group (n = 180) to video clips of an information-based TV magazine. Results indicated that for individuals who expressed a fear of being obese, exposure to the weight loss reality TV show reinforced negative explicit attitudes toward obese individuals by activating a perception of weight controllability. Exposure to the weight loss reality TV show also enhanced negative implicit attitudes toward obese individuals among all adolescents, irrespective of their fear of being obese. Altogether, our findings underscore the role of media in perpetuating weight bias.

Werbung – Ethik – Moral

Ausgehend von dem Stellenwert, den Werbung in der Gesellschaft nicht nur als okonomischer Impulsgeber besitzt, werden Zusammenhange von Werbung, Ethik und Moral dargestellt und anhand aktueller Forschungsbeispiele exemplarisch diskutiert. Werbeethik kann im Spannungsfeld von Konsum und Regulierung verortet werden und sich sowohl auf Fremd- als auch Selbstkontrolle beziehen. Werberechtliche Rahmenbedingungen werden durch selbstauferlegte Ethikkodizes der Werbebranche erganzt. Um einer globalisierten Medien- und Werbewelt angemessen zu begegnen, werden bereits jetzt und kunftig noch viel mehr auch grenzuberschreitende internationale Masnahmen zur Regulierung wie auch zur Harmonisierung notwendig.