Is Objectification Always Harmful?: Reactions to Objectifying Images and Feedback as a Function of Self-Objectification and Mortality Salience
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2011
Keywords
Mortality salience, Objectification, Self-objectification, State self-esteem
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.11.013
Abstract
From the perspective of terror management theory, awareness of death induces a need for validation of important values. Thus, for women who place a high value on their appearance (e.g., high self-objectifiers), mortality salience should increase positive reactions to objectifying experiences relative to women who do not highly value appearance. Two studies supported this hypothesis. Self-objectification moderated favorable reactions to objectifying stimuli (Study 1) and state self-esteem in response to an objectifying comment (Study 2) when women were primed with death. Together, the studies illustrate the complexity of reactions to objectification and, by highlighting conditions in which objectification serves a psychological function, help to explain the pervasiveness of the phenomena.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, v. 47, issue 2, p. 443-448
Scholar Commons Citation
Goldenberg, Jamie L.; Cooper, Douglas P.; Heflick, Nathan A.; Routledge, Clay; and Arndt, Jamie, "Is Objectification Always Harmful?: Reactions to Objectifying Images and Feedback as a Function of Self-Objectification and Mortality Salience" (2011). Psychology Faculty Publications. 1477.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub/1477
