Think “Thin” and Feel Bad: The Role of Appearance Schema Activation, Attention Level, and Thin–Ideal Internalization for Young Women’s Responses to Ultra–Thin Media Ideals

This study extends previous demonstrations that thin media models have a negative impact on young women’s body image by examining howthis effect occurs. In addition to thin–ideal internalization, shown to moderate this impact (Dittmar Halliwell & Dittmar, 2004a), it investigates two further factors not previously explored together: first, the level of attention at which women process thin images and, second, appearance schema activation as an underlying process that mediates the exposure–anxiety link. Seventy-five women were exposed to either neutral advertisements (no models) or to thin models, at either low or high attention, manipulated by exposure time (10 s vs. 150 ms) and focus instructions. Thin models increase weight–related anxiety to the extent that women internalize the thin ideal, but anxiety is heightened further under conditions of high attention. These two effects are independent, and only the first is mediated fully by appearance schema activation. Research and intervention implications are discussed.