Others as Objects: How Women and Men Perceive the Consequences of Self-Objectification

Abstract

Although the negative psychological impact of self-objectification is well-documented, whether people generally recognize this impact in other people remains unclear. We hypothesized that due to their relatively limited experience with self-objectification, men are less likely than women to perceive its ramifications. In Study 1a, where 132 U. S. undergraduates were induced to perceive a female target as self-objectifying, women saw more negative emotions in her. Study 1b, using a U. S. online sample (N = 170), indicated that this difference was not due to participants' own state of self-objectification. In Study 2, when participants (U. S. online sample, N = 84) identified with objectified targets, women again reported stronger negative reactions, further supporting our hypothesis. Implications and future directions are discussed. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.