Hypothesis 2: Agreement with the Film:

1
Testing Objectification Theory The Effects of a
Media Literacy Intervention Becky L. Choma and
Mindi D. Foster, Wilfrid Laurier University

• INTRODUCTION
• The messages from media about what women should
  look like and value are not often
• constructive and often have harmful consequences
  for womens well-being (e.g.,Tiggemann,
• et al., 2000). Many have proposed that empowering
  women to critically evaluate media that
• sanctions and promotes thinness will effectively
  reduce its harmful effects (e.g., Berel
• Irving, 1998).
• Objectification theory suggests however that
  there may be certain women for whom, and
• certain conditions in which, media literacy may
  be harmful. Objectification theory
• states that women in our culture are socialized
  to internalize an outside perspective of their
• physical self, one that objectifies women as
  sexual objects (Fredrickson and Roberts, 1997).
  The processes through which self-objectification
  can occur may be via ones dispositional
  tendencies to rate ones own body from a third
  person point of view (trait self-objectification
  TSO, or, self-objectification can be enhanced by
  certain situations (i.e., SSO state
  self-objectification). Recent research has shown
  that situations that raise a womans awareness of
  her body shape and size and her feelings of being
  judged foster negative consequences, especially
  for women high in TSO (Fredrickson et al., 1998
  Gapinski, et al., 2003). Therefore, it was
  reasoned that media literacy interventions as
  another situational influence of
  self-objectification may also have negative
  consequences for women, particularly those high
  in TSO. We evaluated the effects of two media
  literacy interventions for older adolescent
  women. Slim Hopes is a video that focuses
  solely on advertising and our cultures obsession
  with thinness. Killing Us Softly III is a video
  that critiques advertisings image and portrayal
  of women generally.
• HYPOTHESES
• Predicted that Slim Hopes would create a
  situation characterised by high
  self-objectification.
• Given the threatening nature of
  self-objectification, agreement with Slim Hopes
  would be less than for Killing Us Softly III.
• Participants high in TSO who viewed Slim Hopes
  would report more negative psychological effects
  than those viewing Killing Us Softly III.

RESULTS Hypothesis 1 Salience of State
Self-Objectification Significant main effect
for video, F (1, 106) 12.65, p.001,
?2.06. Ratings of SSO Slim Hopes viewers
reported more SSO (M1.52, SD1.50) than Killing
Us Softly III viewers (M.68, SD.95).
Media Literacy Video Effects on Participants
Three general themes emerged. 1. POSITIVE
FEELINGS was the first and largest theme and
consisted of increased awareness, increased
self-confidence, new skills, feeling happier or
better about oneself , and the desire to take
action. This film made me reflect on the way I
see myself and will encourage me to think more
critically about media images in the future.
2. NEGATIVE FEELINGS consisted of participants
reporting feelings such as, anger, disgust,
concern, guilt, and outrage. The majority of
participants reported feeling angry or upset at
what the media was doing. Media disgusts
me. Media greatly defines culture and the
definition that exists today is very
disturbing 3. BARRIERS TO CHANGE reasons for
not changing included, media overpowering them
(i.e., helplessness), already being aware of
medias false images, attitudes of helplessness,
and too many pressures to be thin and
beautiful. its hard to stop comparing
ourselves to the imageswe are constantly
bombarded by those images
Hypothesis 2 Agreement with the Film A
repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant main
effect for response, F (1, 103) 8.44, p.005,
?2 .08. Significant video by time interaction,
F (1, 103) 6.51, p.012, ?2.06. Slim Hopes
viewers level of agreement significantly
decreased from time 1 (M.61) to time 2
(M.87). Killing Us Softly III viewers ratings
at time 1 (M.60) and time 2 (M.61) did not
significantly differ.

• CONCLUSIONS
• Slim Hopes fostered an environment salient in
  SSO media literacy interventions serve as
  another Situational influence of
  self-objectification.
• Killing Us Softly III participants reported
  maintained agreement with the video over time,
  while Slim Hopes participants reported
  decreased agreement.
• Participants, regardless of TSO level reported
  experiencing many positive feelings. Further, the
  negative feelings that were reported tended to
  concern participants feelings towards media, not
  negative feelings about themselves or their
  bodies.
• IMPLICATIONS
• The present study raised questions about the
  interaction between TSO and SSO.
• Questions
• Are all high SSO environments harmful for high
  TSO women?
• What elements of high SSO environments are most
  harmful?
• Perhaps it is not the salience of ones body
  shape and size (which is how SSO was measured)
  that fosters the most damage for high TSO women,
  but rather the feeling that ones body is being
  judged (an element present in Fredrickson et
  al.s (1998) and Gapinski et al.s (2003)
  studies).
• Media literacy videos can foster positive effects
  for well-being among all women, regardless of
  their level of TSO.

• METHODS
• Participants. 140 women (Mage18.59) pre-selected
  for level of TSO (high (top 25) or low (bottom
  25)
• Procedure. Participants visited the lab 2 times.
  During each visit they completed questionnaires.
  During their second visit participants viewed one
  of the three videos and answered a questionnaire.
  
• Materials and Measures.
• Videos.
• Killing Us Softly III (low SSO Kilbourne,
  1997)
• Slim Hopes (high SSO Kilbourne, 1995)
• Control video National Geographic describing the
  earths crust
• and volcanic activity.
• Agreement. Rated the extent to which they agreed
  with what Jean was saying in the film they
  viewed.
• Well-being. Three open ended questions were
  asked, What are your general reactions/feelings
  to this film? Please explain, Did watching the
  video change the way you feel/think about
  yourself/others? Please explain, and Did the
  video have an impact on you in other ways? If
  yes, please explain.

Hypothesis 3 Differences in Well-being TSO
Differences No differences emerged between high
and low TSO participants. Video Differences
No differences emerged between the two media
literacy videos Slim Hopes and Killing Us
Softly III.