Women’s and Men’s Eating Behavior Following Exposure to Ideal-Body Images and Text

Two experiments tested the effects of exposure to ideal-body images and text on young adults’ eating behavior. Women viewed slides depicting images of slender female models with no text, with diet- and exercise-related (congruent) text, with irrelevant (incongruent) text, or no slides (control). Men viewed slides depicting images of muscular male models in the same four conditions. Among women with a discrepancy between perceptions of their actual body and the body their same-gender peers believe they ought to have, exposure to images alone and images plus congruent text led to a reduction in the amount eaten in front of female peers. Among men with the same discrepancy, exposure to images alone and images plus congruent text led to an increase in the amount eaten in front of male peers. The distinctions between ideal-body images and text as stimuli, and between male and female eating behaviors as self-presentational strategies, are considered in the discussion.