The impact of exposure to unrealistically high beauty standards on inhibitory control

Leila Selimbegović (1) , Catherine Juneau (2) , Ludovic Ferrand (2) , Nicolas Spatola (2) , Maria Augustinova (3)

1 CeRCA [Poitiers] - Centre de recherches sur la cognition et l'apprentissage [UMR 7295]
2 LAPSCO - Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive
3 CRFDP - Centre de Recherches sur les Fonctionnements et Dysfonctionnements Psychologiques

Common processes underlying effects of exposure to unattainable beauty standards and their regulation are currently poorly understood. Therefore , the present study investigated the impact of this exposure on executive inhibitory control. Between two blocks of a semantic Stroop task, seventy-two healthy young women were exposed to pictures of a thin beauty model (vs. control pictures). Exposure to the model did not affect the level of semantic Stroop interference. However, standard Stroop interference (which includes an inhibitory control component) increased for control participants in the second block, while participants exposed to the model maintained the same level of standard Stroop interference across the two blocks. These results suggest that comparison with an unrealistically high beauty standard facilitates the deployment of inhibi-tory control across time. Discussion focuses on the potential role of the motivation to avoid aversive self-awareness and negative emotions in these effects and their practical implications.

Mots clés: beauty standards; Inhibitory control; social comparison; escape theory; Stroop interference

Domaines: Psychologie

Leila Selimbegović, Catherine Juneau, Ludovic Ferrand, Nicolas Spatola, Maria Augustinova. The impact of exposure to unrealistically high beauty standards on inhibitory control. L'Année psychologique, 2019, 119, pp.473 - 493. ⟨10.3917/anpsy1.194.0473⟩. ⟨hal-02347233⟩