Messages about physical attractiveness in animated cartoons

Relying upon a content analysis of one specific type of medium to which young people are exposed beginning at an early age, on a regular basis, and for many years (i.e., animated cartoons), the present study examines what types of messages are provided about being physically unattractive, physically attractive, and ordinary-looking. This research concerns itself with identifying the characteristics that tend to be associated with being good-looking or unattractive, and then discussing the implications of the findings. Results indicate that many variables were found to differ based on cartoon characters’ physical attractiveness, including gender, age, intelligence, body weight, emotional states experienced, prosocial behaviors, antisocial behaviors, and overall goodness/badness. Whenever differences were found, the overriding tendency was for cartoons to provide positive messages about being attractive and negative messages about being unattractive.     

The relationship of drive for muscularity to sociocultural factors, self-esteem, physical attributes gender role, and social comparison in middle school boys

This study examines the relationship of three sociocultural factors—media influence, peer teasing, and parent teasing/comments and three potential moderator variables—self-esteem, social comparison, and endorsement of male strength and athleticism—to drive for muscularity in middle school boys. There were 287 seventh and eighth grade boys who completed a questionnaire measuring these variables as well as body mass index (BMI) and pubertal status. Results indicated that media influence and male physical attributes endorsement were particularly important correlates of drive for muscularity. These findings have implications for programs designed to prevent body dissatisfaction among adolescent boys.     

To rebuild lives: a longitudinal study of the influences of the Holocaust on relationships among three generations of women in one family

The current article presents an analysis of the life stories of three generations of women within a family headed by a Holocaust survivor. Its uniqueness lies in its double analysis of the stories told by these women, with an interval of 12 years between telling. The first series of interviews were conducted in the early 1990s within the framework of a pioneering study in which, for the first time, three generations in each of 20 families were interviewed and their narratives analyzed. The current analyses are based on the perspective that, through life narratives, it is possible to view the transformations of relationships over time and that these transformations in relationships are central to personal development. We will examine the relationships of the women in these three generations, both with significant others and with each other. We will trace processes of development and changes in these relationships over the 12 years. Finally, we will discuss the social and methodological implications of our study.     

The role of self-improvement and self-evaluation motives in social comparisons with idealised female bodies in the media

This study investigates the effect of social comparisons with media models on women's body image based on either self-evaluation or self-improvement motives. Ninety-eight women, for whom appearance was a relevant comparison dimension, viewed advertisements that did, or did not, feature idealised models, after being prompted to engage in self-evaluation or self-improvement comparisons. The results indicate that, when focusing on self-evaluation, comparisons with thin models are associated with higher body-focused anxiety than viewing no model advertisements. In contrast, when focusing on self-improvement, comparisons with thin models are not associated with higher body-focused anxiety than viewing no models. Furthermore, women's general tendency to engage in social comparisons moderated the effects of self-evaluative comparisons with models, so that women who did not habitually engage in social comparisons were most strongly affected. It is suggested that motive for social comparison may explain previous inconsistencies in the experimental exposure literature and warrants more careful attention in future research.     

Media exposure, mood, and body image dissatisfaction: an experimental test of person versus product priming

In the current study, 138 college females were randomly assigned to four media exposure conditions based on the presence or absence of an attractive person (fashion model) and the presence or absence of an appearance-related product. Outcome measures consisted of visual analogue ratings of multiple body image and mood variables. The results revealed a significant main effect for person, indicating that the presence of a model increased levels of body dissatisfaction and negative mood. No product effect emerged and there was no significant interaction between person and product. These findings suggest that the appearance priming effect of media exposure on body dissatisfaction and mood is specific to a person stimulus, with no additional effect promoted by a generic appearance-relevant stimulus.     

Is it life or is it Memorex? Video as a representation of reality

This paper offers an overview of research on infants’ early behavior toward televised images, followed by an account of the development of representational competence with video. Several aspects of representation are involved in young children’s understanding and use of video. From a very young age, children form mental representations of the contents of video, making sense of realistic images of familiar things. Children also notice and represent information regarding video itself (e.g., its 2-dimensionality). An important development occurs when children represent the relation between video and reality: at first, toddlers appear to categorize video as separate from reality, but eventually children recognize realistic video images as physical representations (symbols) of events they have not directly perceived. A mature representation of video takes into account genre (e.g., news, drama) and reality status based on recognition that video can (but does not always) represent real events.     

Mother as Messenger of Love and Death

For mothers, the act of giving birth also brings them close to death as well as other human experiences. The mother represents the dual structure of life and death in the mind. It was this unconscious convergence that stirred the interest in reconsidering the subject of the loss of children and its effect on individual development. This article demonstrates what happens when death triumphs over life chronologically close to birth. The author presents a clinical report on a six-year-old girl, Dinah, who suffered the effects of the mother's mourning. She illustrates the therapeutic approach to mourning over time, at moments in which the shadow of pain is more clearly present. These are moments when the loss must be brought to consciousness, because of the unconscious effects it has on the survivors. Dinah's problems were not caused by the loss itself, but rather the fact that the loss occurred in a phase of her emotional development when she was only a baby an unable to react in a mature manner.     

Comprehension Models of Audiovisual Discourse Processing

Comprehension is integral to enjoyment of media narratives, yet our understanding of how viewers create the situation models that underlie comprehension is limited. This study utilizes two models of comprehension that had previously been tested with factual texts/videos to predict viewers' recall of entertainment media. Across five television/film clips, the landscape model explained at least 29% of the variance in recall. A dual coding version that assumed separate verbal and visual representations of the story significantly improved the model fit in four of the clips, accounting for an additional 15–29% of the variance. The dimensions of the event‐indexing model (time, space, protagonist, causality, and intentionality) significantly moderated the relationship between the dual coding model and participant recall in all clips.     

Representation of ideal figure size in Ebony magazine: a content analysis

Studies examining trends over time in mainstream magazines observe decreases in women's figure size, and increases in figure exposure and amount of diet/exercise content. Little is known, however, regarding the content of African American magazines. Utilizing methods from classic studies, this investigation examined content in Ebony, a magazine with wide African American readership, from 1969 to 2008. We included the full content of N = 462 issues, with a total of N = 539 cover images of women, of which N = 208 were full-body shots. Analyses indicated a curvilinear relationship between time and figure exposure, with a recent trend toward more full-body shots, similar to mainstream magazines. Contrary to previous studies, however, the majority of figures across time were average size, and a curvilinear relationship between time and diet/exercise content showed peak content in the early 1990s. Results are considered in context of research indicating African American women show less body dissatisfaction than other racial/ethnic groups.     

Contemplating Tragedy Raises Gratifications and Fosters Self‐Acceptance

Despite the reflective nature of tragedy, little research has focused on reflection's impact on “pleasure” and personal growth. Drawing from entertainment, literary, and health research, this study assessed the degree to which contemplating tragedy increases gratifications and promotes self‐acceptance. The moderating effects of life events were also examined. In an experiment, participants (N = 120) were randomly instructed to either watch a Hollywood drama and reflect, or only watch the movie (control). Results showed significant main effects on appreciation and enjoyment. Reflection increased gratifications for participants with remote loss (≥2 years) but not recent loss, and it strengthened the link between self‐perceptual depth and a 4‐week change in self‐compassion. The benefits and drawbacks of reflecting on tragedy are discussed.