Popular Culture Review Vol. 28, No. 1, February 2017 | Page 20

Based on previous research looking at social comparison processes with thin media representations ( Botta , 1999 ; Harrison , 1997 ; Morrison et al ., 2004 ), one can assume that young adults who have a favorite character who is underweight will have place more importance on appearance than those whose favorite character is of average weight . The latter are likely not to feel very different from their favorite character who is representative of the average body , while the former are more likely to perceive they do not the norm . I therefore predicted that compared to emerging adults whose favorite character is average weight , those who have an underweight favorite character will place more importance on appearance .
According to a meta-analysis of media and body image , TV ’ s portrayal of overweight women may have a positive effect on women ’ s body image ( Holmstrom , 2004 ). This would be a type of a downward comparison , such that people think that they are better than the overweight actor or actress and consequently feel better about their appearance .
The way media representations may affect importance of a partner ’ s weight and attractiveness has not been researched . Since , presumably , people will compare themselves to their favorite TV character ; this may affect how they subsequently evaluate their romantic
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