The effect of mirrors on women's body image

<p>Young women in Western cultures are conditioned to believe their self-worth is contingent upon conforming to cultural standards of beauty and thinness (Harter 1990; Stice & Shaw 2002). Perceived discrepancies between one's actual body and the body ideal lead to body dissatisfaction or normative discontent (Rodin Silberstein & StreigelMoore 1985). Large-scale surveys report that 46% of adolescent girls and 87% of college-aged women are dissatisfied with their current body size (Neighbors & Sobal 2007; Neumark-Sztainer Goeden Story & Wall 2004). Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts 1997) provides an overarching framework for understanding how societal portrayals of women's bodies as objects of desire are internalized by women through a process known as self-objectification which is associated with body dissatisfaction depression anxiety and low self-esteem (Moradi & Huang 2008). When Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) first introduced objectification theory they proposed that women could actively reduce these negative consequences of self-objectification by positively engaging with their body through exercise. </p>