Mere exposure: Gender differences in the negative effects of priming a state of self-objectification

Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) holds that American culture coaxes women to develop observers' views of their bodies. The present study was designed to test whether a state of self-objectification can be automatically activated by subtle exposure to objectifying words. A state of self-objectification or of bodily empowerment was primed by the use of a scrambled sentence task. Women's ratings of negative emotions were higher and their ratings of the appeal of physical sex lower when primed with self-objectification than when primed with body competence. Men's ratings were unaffected by the primes. The results of this study suggest that mere exposure to objectifying media can play a significant role in the initiation of a self-objectified state along with its attendant psychological consequences for women.