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A word-stem completion task to assess implicit processing of appearance-related information.
Marika Tiggemann1, Duane Hargreaves, Janet Polivy
1Flinders University of South Australia, School of Psychology, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. marika.tiggeman@flinders.edu.au
Journal of Psychosomatic Research
|July 17, 2004
Summary
A new word-stem completion task effectively measures how media exposure influences thoughts about appearance and weight. This implicit measure is sensitive to changes in appearance- and weight-schema activation.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Media Studies
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Appearance-related information processing is crucial in understanding media effects.
- Existing measures may not capture subtle, implicit cognitive processes related to appearance schemas.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel implicit measure for assessing appearance-related information processing.
- To evaluate the utility of this measure in experimental settings examining media exposure.
Main Methods:
- A 20-item word-stem completion task was created, allowing for appearance-related or alternative word completions.
- The task was administered across four experiments, focusing on the effects of exposure to idealized media images.
Main Results:
- Exposure to media images depicting thin ideals significantly increased the generation of appearance- and weight-related words.
- This effect was observed in both female and male participants, indicating broad applicability.
Conclusions:
- The word-stem completion task serves as a valuable, sensitive, and user-friendly outcome measure for experimental studies on media effects.
- The task is conceptualized as a measure of appearance- and weight-schema activation, offering insights into cognitive responses to media stimuli.