TORONTO, October 1, 2004 --  As Thanksgiving and other food-centred holidays approach, dieters may be surprised to learn that those mass media images of idealized female bodies in movies, beauty magazines and the fashion industry can provide them with a temporary but powerful form of encouragement. York University psychology professor Jennifer Mills has dubbed it the ‘thinspiration effect.’

 

After conducting a number of psychological experiments, Mills found that women who are dieting actually feel thinner after looking at idealized images of the thin body regularly served up by the mass media. Mills says that the thinspiration effect works best for dieters who only have five to 10 pounds to lose.

 

“These images actually inspire women to diet.  It’s a powerful motivator for women who want to lose weight, and it challenges the myth that the images just make women feel hopeless,” says Mills.

 

“The dieter’s goal has to be attainable,” says Mills, “Otherwise, they get discouraged and tend

to fail.” In the case of failure, Mills notes, women tend to blame themselves -- saying they ‘cheated’ -- rather than blame the diet. “Despite claims to the contrary,” says Mills, “most diets do not work over the long term and can result in chronic dieting, binge dieting and even eating disorders.” She cites the fact that very few diets provide support or follow-up as a prime reason for their failure.

 

Mills is doing follow-up studies to determine what happens when the thinspiration effect wears off. “We think the effect is relatively short-lived,” says Mills, “and may dissipate as dieters come down from the so-called dieting high.”

 

Her results have altered the way researchers think about the changes in self-perception that women undergo during the dieting process.  The research will also impact the theoretical assumptions that clinicians use when treating patients in other areas where media images appear to influence behaviour. “We want women to be aware of how images affect them,” says Mills, “and we want to give clinicians the tools to help people.

"If we can isolate the conditions under which women are vulnerable to worsened body image and increased propensity to diet, we are closer to understanding and preventing eating disorders," Mills adds. York University offers several body image and eating disorder education and outreach programs available to the University community through its Student Affairs office and Counselling and Development Centre.

 

 

York University is the leading interdisciplinary teaching and research university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city.  The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 180,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 21 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries.  This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges.

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For further information, please contact:

George McNeillie, Assistant Director, Media Relations, York University, (416) 736-2100 x22091/
gmcneil@yorku.ca