Dagmara Gawron
2nd Faculty of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw
Abstract:
The article describes consequences of explicit and implicit confrontation with beautified face images. Volunteers, who underwent two experiments, evaluated pictures of their faces that were beautified in Photoshop. In Experiment 1 (N = 108), it was shown that the participants after explicit confrontation with beautified images of their faces tended to rate their actual appearance less favorably than before the experience. Moreover, Experiment 1 showed that women after explicit confrontation had a worse mood in comparison to neutral conditions, however, in men the opposite effect occurred. The aim of Experiment 2 (N = 110) was to find an answer to a question whether the effects caused in Experiment 1 occurred due to awareness of the changes, or a real difference in appearance. The study indicates that the decrease in self-evaluation of appearance after confrontation with beautified picture of face was caused by genuine difference in appearance, however, deterioration in mood was caused by objective self-awareness of aforementioned difference.
Keywords: body modification, body self-esteem, mood
Cite this article as:
Gawron, D. (2017). Explicit and implicit confrontation with beautified face images and its impact on appearance and mood. Psychologia Społeczna, 42, 280–292. doi: 10.7366/1896180020174203