Skinny Celebrities May Make Us Feel Better About Ourselves, New Study Shows

Seeing celebrities and models who are skinnier than you makes you feel pretty crappy about yourself, right?

Maybe not. According to Postmedia News, a new study is turning the conventional wisdom about body image and self-esteem on its head.

In "The Skinny on Celebrities: Parasocial Relationships Moderate the Effects of Thin Media Figures on Women’s Body Image," published this month in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, graduate student Ariana Young argues that seeing skinny models or celebrities can actually make us feel better about ourselves.

The study centers on two findings. In one, women who thought they shared a birthday with a slender model felt better about their bodies after seeing her photo than women who felt they had nothing common with the model.

Similarly, women who were shown one of their favorite thin celebrities felt better about their own figures than when shown thin celebrities who they didn't like.

The idea, says Young, is that we tend to assume a likeness between ourselves and the people we admire. By a process called assimilation, we associate the positive feelings we have about, say, Beyonce or Jennifer Aniston with positive feelings about ourselves. The "parasocial" (one-sided) relationship we establish with these slender celebs therefore protects us from potentially low self-esteem.

The finding flies in the face of both previous studies and conventional wisdom, which suggests that seeing skinny bodies in magazines lowers our self-esteem and can lead to unrealistic and potentially harmful body standards.

That conventional wisdom holds true when there's no connection between the viewer and the celeb in the magazine -- i.e. when no parasocial relationship exists. But because we adore Karlie Kloss and worship at the feet of Reese Witherspoon, seeing their lithe forms makes us happy and even positive about our curvier frames.

So what does this mean for the fashion and magazine industries? Well, feature the stars and models we love the most. Then everybody wins.

Read more about the study here or purchase a PDF copy of the original article, "The Skinny on Celebrities: Parasocial Relationships Moderate the Effects of Thin Media Figures on Women’s Body Image," here.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[Mayme]

12:08 PM on 03/04/2012

I see them and they scare me. Angelina at the Oscars looked like she was near death---made me feel healthy!!

[ebby811]

04:46 AM on 02/24/2012

Yes they made me feel so much better that I now strave seven days every other week, I eat 1000 calories and exercise a hour and 30 min daily and im 5'10 and 130 pounds size 4 and wish to be a 2 at least..I use to be a size 26. Instead I look at their stupid photos and they look so perfect....ok who got the crazy idea that seeing them makes others happy?

[thetruthhoits]

03:48 PM on 02/23/2012

This article is bull$

[katenola]

10:07 AM on 02/23/2012

oh, one more thing, the idiot huff po "journalist" didn't read the actual article. she ripped of the "Scoop" from the national post.

[katenola]

10:02 AM on 02/23/2012

bad journalism. this is a weird new academic journal that publishes single studies or quick multiple studies. They have a review process, but the execution and rigor found in more credible journals is sorely lacking in this publication.

This means that the study has numerous flaws including sample size and generalizability, measurement of the concepts such as perception, self image, skinny, etc.

There are serious consequences to promoting over the top obsession with the weights and body shape of models and celebrities. Not that huff po cares....

The author of the huff po article is CLEARLY not qualified to evaluate academic journals. ugh.

[eva07]

02:01 AM on 02/23/2012

"Skinny celebrities might not always hurt women’s self esteem, sometimes they might even help: study" now there is a definitive result
"In the initial study, women who were led to believe they shared a birthday with an unknown thin model reported feeling better about their bodies after seeing her photo than those who didn’t perceive that subtle similarity.

A second study showed women were more satisfied with their bodies after exposure to their favourite thin celebrity than when exposed to a thin celebrity who was only moderately liked."

"According to Young, the message for magazines wanting to showcase slim women is that they can reduce the potential for harm by using models or stars that are widely admired by fellow females."

Wow, and that proves what?

[Jeffin90019]

12:11 AM on 02/23/2012

I say this with the utmost respect for women, but the body image thing that you go through is really, really weird to men. We don't get why women are so judgmental and mean to each other over looks, but they are. Women are mean in a way that has no corollary among men. Men hate each other for completely different reasons (money, success, women, toys, etc.) but not because of how we look.

[ncon]

12:39 AM on 02/23/2012

For straight women, it's men who hate each other for different reasons (read: women) that help further the body image issues. Many men judge women based on their body, so women are obviously self-conscious about their body. Some women are judgmental and mean because in a society in which women are still not equal to men (glass ceiling, women who are leaders are dubbed "bitches" if they act the same way a man would in their position), sometimes one's body is unfortunately what gets one ahead.

[Wintersoldier7020]

08:12 PM on 02/22/2012

If you have to look to someone else to validate you....you're in for a world of hurt and you should be seeing a therapist regularly.

[inthedesert]

08:08 PM on 02/22/2012

I actually thought this was from The Onion because it sounded so totally insipid. LOL. If celebrity's weight makes you feel good about yourself, you need help.

[Janzee12000]

08:01 PM on 02/22/2012

"Skinny Celebrities May Make Us Feel Better About Ourselves",
By the number of times they enter rehab?

[ThermoChemist]

08:00 PM on 02/22/2012

"By a process called assimilation, we associate the positive feelings we have about, say, Beyonce or Jennifer Aniston with positive feelings about ourselves."
=========

Assimilation?

As 7-of-9 would say:
"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated..."

: )

[timbeaux]

07:40 PM on 02/22/2012

Why don't we ever read about studies like this for men? I know I feel much better about myself after looking at a photo of Brad Pitt. I mean, huh?

[Chip Common]

07:25 PM on 02/22/2012

I guess Americans will have to find someone/something else to blame for our misery.

[DrSkepsis]

07:21 PM on 02/22/2012

Especially when we sleep with them. Biblically speaking, anyway.

[edejan]

07:21 PM on 02/22/2012

Baloney. Another bee ess study.