Vizuális médiahatások és a testi elégedettség kapcsolata

Abstract

Problem : Mass media is the essential source of distributing the cultural expectations
about body appearance. In western societies the emphasized and idealized lean and
skinny female bodies are hardly attainable for the majority of population. Percieving the
difference between the actual and the idealized bodies can cause serious dissatisfaction,
frustration or anxiety about the physical appearance. Nowadays women’s bodies
appearing in movies and television are drastically thinner like thirty years ago, and
dieting is a popular and recurrent issue of different television programmes and articles
of female magazines.
Aim: The aim of this presentation is to reveal the relationship between the percieved
media images and the effect of body dissatisfaction. Relevant studies show great direct
effect of skinny images on body dissatisfaction and percieved anxiety.
Results: Repeated presentation of thin images are associated with the internalization of
the thin ideal. Some personal characteristics such as overweight, body dissatisfaction,
frequent self-monitoring or the neccesity to compare the physical appearance to the
others, are associated with the vulnerability of body dissatisfaction as a result of
viewing thin media images.
Conclusion: Many researchers emphasize the association of thin media images with
body dissatisfaction, body image disturbances and eating disorders. Body image and
psychological well-being shows close connection, as body image shows great effect
on self-evaluation and behaviour. In some serious conditions body image disturbances
are associated with eating disorders, depression, social phobia, or other self-harm
behaviours.