• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.30 no.4 s.152
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• pp.633-643
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• 2006

When women are exposed to images of other attractive women such as media models, it is known that many go through a social comparison process and a contrast effect occurs which results in unfavorable perception and attitudes toward the self. This paper suggests women's perception of control over their appearance as one of the factors that may moderate the contrast effect of a social comparison with attractive media models. An experiment with 211 women was conducted to examine the differential effect of viewing attractive models versus non-human images on the responses of women with high/low perceived control over appearance. A two(Stimuli Type: attractive-model image vs. non-human image) by two(Perceived Control over Appearance: High vs. Low) MANCOVA model was tested with physical appearance anxiety, self-esteem, and body satisfaction as dependent variables and appearance orientation, body mass index, age, years of schooling, ethnicity, and marital status as covariates. A significant Perceived Control main effect on Physical Appearance Anxiety and Self-Esteem and a significant Stimuli Type by Perceived Control interaction effect on Physical Appearance Anxiety and Self-Esteem were found. Those who perceived high control over their appearance were more likely to have higher self-esteem and lower appearance anxiety. However, among those who saw attractive model's images, women perceived low appearance control showed less anxiety and higher body satisfaction than those perceived high appearance control.