Home and Perceived Realism

Barriga, C., Sharpo, M., Thaven, R. (2009) Media Context, Female Body Size and Perceived Realism.  Sex Roles, 60(1-2), 128-141. EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr.2010.
     The article mainly focused on a study done by Cornell researchers in 2009.  The information was current and up to date.  There was extensive research presented in the article establishing a setting for the authors findings.  The information the authors presented mainly focused on perceptions of television actresses, but when read closely enough there was also information pertaining to the public.  The experimenters went to great lengths to control for everything but size in the females, so the research was very trustworthy.  There were no males represented in the examples, however males were used as subjects, and their opinions were very detailed. 

Body Perception

Neighbors, L., Sobal, J., Liff, C., Amiraian, D. (2008). Weighing Weight: Trends in Body Weight Evaluation Among Young Adults in 1990 and 2005.  Sex Roles, 59(1-2).  EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr. 2010.
     This publication focused not only on women but on men.  The publication was helpful when researching women, but there were more findings and words spent on men.  It was incredibly scientific in methods and conclusions, but the authors did have some biased toward a more hopeful future.  The experiment was thorough, and each participant was given a wide range of choices to categorize their body.  The results were presented in body weight, percentages, and BMI measurements, so the data could be incorporated into many different forms. 

Eating Disorders

Franco, K. N. Eating Disorders. Retrieved from http://www.clevelandclinicmeded.com/medicalpubs/diseasemanagement/psychiatry-psychology/eating-disorders/#cesec8
     This article is a part of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Continuing Education website. It explains many different aspects of eating disorders, such as: causes, definitions, classifications of different types, symptoms, and diagnosis. The part that I used for this project was the classifications of the different disorders, focusing on anorexia and bulimia. For the information that I was interested in, this source was extremely helpful.

Giordano, S. (2005). Anorexia Nervosa and its Moral Foundations. International Journal of Children's Rights, 13(1/2), 149-160. doi:10.1163/1571818054545187.
     This article is about anorexia nervosa, and argues that it is caused by morality. It looks into the effect of media, as well as the ancient myth of thinness. The author concludes that thinness is the ideal because it becomes valuable in our society. I used the quote from the British Medical Association from this article. This article was very interesting because, unlike the others, it argued against the point we were trying to make; however, it was still able to support our topic and contribute to the sociological effects that the media and eating disorders have on women.

Hawkins, N., Richards, P., Granley, H., & Stein, D. (2004). The Impact of Exposure to the Thin-Ideal Media Image on Women.Eating Disorders, 12.1, 35-50. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database
     This article discusses an experiment conducted in which female college students were shown photographs from popular magazines and then complete Media Response Questionnaires and several other questionnaires regarding self-esteem, negative affect, eating disorder symptomology, as well as several others. This study concluded that there was a link between the exposure to thin-ideal media and dissatisfaction in regards to self body image. From this article, the information that I used was mostly regarding the prior research conducted regarding this topic, such as statistics about body weight and regarding the idealization of thinness and its effect on self body image. The prior research portion of this article was helpful; however, the research conducted for this article was not as conclusive in terms of media’s influence on eating disorders.

Inch, R., & Merali, N. (2006). A Content Analysis of Popular Magazine Articles on Eating Disorders. Eating Disorders, 14.2, 109-120. doi:10.1080/10640260500536250.
     This article is an analysis of magazines over a period of five years. The authors tracked and coded the articles associated with eating in the magazines. They concluded that there is an overwhelming representation of articles regarding anorexia nervosa. The information that I used from this article was from the introduction and the literary analysis sections, specifically the data regarding magazine articles’ relationship to internalization. This article was quite helpful in my research because it was different and focused on the reading material within the magazine, and not simply the pictures on the front.

Levine, M., & Muren, S. (2009). "EVERYONE KNOWS THAT MASS MEDIA ARE/ARE NOT [pick one] A CAUSE OF EATING DISORDERS": A CRITICAL REVIEW OF EVIDENCE FOR A CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN MEDIA, NEGATIVE BODY IMAGE, AND DISORDERED EATING IN FEMALES. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 28.1, 9-42. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
     This article weighed the evidence for and against mass media as a cause of eating disorders. There were six criteria that were used in order to determine if the media is or is not a cause. The conclusions state that it is not a cause; however, they labeled it as a “possible causal risk factor”. The information in this article proved to be extremely helpful for this particular research topic. I used the quotation about what the content of mass media provides for its consumers, as well as the thinness schema for the sociological effects on women portion.



Cosmetic Surgery

"Cosmetic Surgery Overview - Who's Getting Plastic Surgery? - Revolution Health." Revolution Health - Start Your Revolution - Revolution Health. Web. 18 Apr. 2010. <http://www.revolutionhealth.com/healthy-living/cosmetic-and-plastic-surgery/plastic-surgery>.
     This article talks about every aspect a person could ask about when it comes to cosmetic surgery. It lists the top surgeries that people are having and the big picture about cosmetic surgery.  There were many statistics. Revolution Health also informs readers of side effects, recovery times, and insures people to be aware of the severity of getting surgery done.  It talks about who pays for plastic surgery, and the extent that insurance agencies will cover. There is wide variety of information about plastic surgery, and would be helpful to any researcher trying to find out about cosmetic surgery.

Thompson & Stice (2001) "Thin-Ideal Internalization: Mounting Evidence for a New Risk Factor for Body-Image Disturbance and Eating Pathology." Current Directions in Psychological Science 10.5: 181-83. JSTOR. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.
     This article discusses the idea that most females have an image of perfection that is almost always unattainable. The author discusses the effects that family and peer relationships have on a person’s body image. Thompson and Stice also talk about the emotionally damage that the media and family can have on an individual and that the emotional effects go hand in hand with the negative steps that people often take. The authors took part in research through a series of “phases” to try to prove that body image based on the media was having negative effects on the people absorbing them.  This article was helping when it came to bridging the gap between emotionally and physically issues that can arise from the outrageous image the media portrays of “beauty”. The only negative about this article was that it only discussed one major way women cope with this issue, eating disorders. There are many other ways that men and women try to reach these goals, but underneath all of them lay emotional problems.

Photos and Multimedia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

www.dailyspark.com/blog_photos/927700230.jpg

www.hypnotherapist.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Anorexia.jpg

www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/04/05/majthreegirls_wideweb__470x393,0.jpg

www.teacup.topstitched.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/magazines.jpg

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