Affective responses of high and low body satisfied men to viewing physique slides

The purpose of this study was to examine the acute affective responses of high and low body satisfied (BS) men who viewed physique slides of the male ideal (model-slides), physique slides of themselves (self-slides), and nonphysique slides (control-slides). During three laboratory visits the participants viewed the slides from one of the three conditions, and they completed pre-, in-, and post-task affective measures. It was found that the: (a) high BS group reported less mood disturbance than the low BS group; (b) participants reported an increase in depression, anger, and body dissatisfaction after viewing the self-slides; (c) participants indicated a decrease in body dissatisfaction after viewing the model-slides; and (d) viewing the control-slides did not result in affective changes. Findings suggest that viewing physique slides results in increased mood disturbance, regardless of BS level.