Female viewers’ attention to relational cues in movie melodrama & body esteem

1. Female viewers’ attention to relational cues in movie melodrama& body esteem Faculty of Business Research Forum Pierre Wilhelm, Athabasca University, AB Dorina Miron, Phoenix University, AZ Lucian Dinu, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA

2. Problem Faculty of Business Research Forum Body esteem research guided by social-comparative theory (Festinger, 1954) Research emphasis: manipulation(s) of beauty images & study of female viewers’ comparative thinking s Research challenge: study of female viewers’ response to beauty appeals & social-relational cues in media narrative

3. Background Faculty of Business Research Forum Viewers’ attention to referential and inferential meaning- denotations & connotations- : Processing beauty images (Blanton & Staple, 2008; Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008; Groez, Levine & Murnen, 2001; Tiggeman, 2003) (Barthes, 1977; Frey, 1999) Processing relational meaning (Banse, 2008; Leary & Baumeister, 2000; Planalp, 2006) Processing mediated relational meaning (Bremond, 1964, Brown, 1991; Cohen, 2001, Propp, 1958)

4. Research Question Faculty of Business Research Forum RQ 1. To what extent does female viewers’ attention to onscreen relational meaning about beauty affect their body esteem?

5. Methodology Faculty of Business Research Forum Participants Instruments Analyses: correlational & thematic (coding) Test movie: Real women have curves (HBO, 2002) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG1L3wIIxlc

6. Results – Pretest descriptive stats & correlations • stable family and peer support • moderate media viewing habits • unstable school relations and expectations • high level of comparative thinking about media images of beauty • peer, parental, media influence & desire to diet + exercise to look good • peer influence over appearance & worries about own and others’ appearance • Note: body esteem, health, exercise, & beauty related attitudes conflicted • with relational thoughts Faculty of Business Research Forum

7. Posttest stats & correlations Faculty of Business Research Forum group body esteem increased slightly: all measures viewers responded to movie appeal, characters, setting & narrative implications of looking good, including worries, registered in all social dimensions post-test tension between parental and peer influence & appearance pre-test concerns about exercising and friends’ teasing were mitigated but overall sense of insecurity transferred to a school setting a desire to diet remained very strong Note: Pervasive climate of social expectations and concern endured

8. Case 336 –body esteem worsened Faculty of Business Research Forum height – 4; weight – 3; looks – 2, body as is – 2 strongest sense of peer esteem & school support weakest sense of family support weakest self control monitored her looks highly valued a thin look responded well to realistic appeal in movie was overwhelmed by mother-daughter scene of conflict situated herself between both in movie = strong parasocial effect Note: viewer activated a relational mindset (schemata) that raised the acuteness of her self-evaluation, an unconscious process (Blanton and Staple, 2008) She demonstrated poor self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) in the face of parental expectations (Gustafsonet al. 2010) Inferential background relational knowledge biased interpretation & effect

9. Case 335 – Improved body esteem Faculty of Business Research Forum N = 17 Very strong family and peer support Poor academic and relational success at college Poor body esteem and high tendency to value media images Strong self-efficacy Perceived mother-daughter conflict positively in terms of “respect” influenced by her own relational schemata Note: Inferential background relational knowledge biased interpretation and effect - a conscious process

10. Case 334- no change at all Faculty of Business Research Forum parents very wealthy but divorced moderate peer support very poor school support valued a thin ideal and desired to look like actresses responded to movie with third person thinking about effects on others strongest measure of self-control referred to her step mother constantly criticizing her appearance to actresses’ in movie - Note: relational adversity likely strengthened her coping skills background relational knowledge neutralized effect

11. Conclusion Faculty of Business Research Forum Certain forms of relational knowledge guide the communication process involved in comprehending complex movie appeals structured in onscreen comedic drama: a general climate of social expectation was heightened by movie melodrama that influenced interpretation viewers’ response in terms of efficacy (Bandura, 1997) to these social expectations influenced their body esteem Inferential background knowledge guided how viewers interpreted referential meaning = articulation of two levels of narrative some viewers’ activated relational schemata biases in response to interpersonal - social expectations (Planalp, 2006) regarding beauty. Viewing drama and conflict unsettled background relational knowledge that prompted viewers to reassign feelings of esteem to relational information not denoted onscreen.

12. Limitations Faculty of Business Research Forum Findings are limited by small sample and lack of experimental comparisons Pre-test results should more readily highlight viewers’ comparison with actresses, their own body perception, & perceived compliance with body ideals, Post test results should more readily assess the behaviour of actresses, and onscreen interplay in terms of appropriateness Further research should examine viewers’ response to social expectations with reliable measures of self-efficacy.

13. Questions? Faculty of Business Research Forum