COLUMBUS – Online selfies that are Photoshopped or otherwise edited may have an unintended benefit: They may help those who view them avoid some body image issues.
A new study found that when women believed that selfies of thin and sexualized women had been edited, they were less likely to view their own bodies negatively.
Previous studies have found that viewing images of models or others can lead women to put more value on being slender themselves, a line of thinking called “thin ideal internalization,” which can result in eating disorders or other psychological problems.
But the women in the study who knew they were looking at edited or retouched photos suffered less of a negative impact on their own self-images, said, lead author of the study which appears online in the journal Body Image, and doctoral candidate in communication at OSU.
“Women see the edited photos as less authentic and it reduces the negative effect these images can have on them,” Vendemia said. “They know that the online images might not reflect an offline reality.”
The study also found that participants judged women negatively for sharing edited pictures of themselves online, especially if they believed the women were peers instead of models.
The more that the viewers thought the selfies were modified, the more they thought the women took their photos just to show off, to make others jealous and to brag so they also rated the women in the photos as less intelligent and less honest.
The results suggest that women should be cautious about what selfies they share of themselves on social media, Vendemia said.