Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34 (2010), 356–364. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Printed in the USA. Copyright C  2010 Division 35, American Psychological Association. 0361-6843/10 UPWARD AND DOWNWARD: SOCIAL COMPARISON PROCESSING OF THIN IDEALIZED MEDIA IMAGES Marika Tiggemann Janet Polivy Flinders University University of Toronto The present study aimed to investigate the role of social comparison processing in women’s responses to thin idealized images. In particular, it was predicted that comparison with the images on the basis of appearance would lead to more negative outcomes than comparison on the basis of intelligence. A sample of 114 women viewed fashion magazine advertisements featuring thin and attractive models under one of three instructional set conditions: control, appearance comparison, and intelligence comparison instructions. We found that both comparison instructional set conditions led to decreased mood relative to the control condition, but they had no effect on subsequent body dissatisfaction. However, regression analyses indicated that the form of processing in which individuals (irrespective of experimental condition) actually engaged was crucial. In particular, both appearance comparison processing (positively) and intelligence com- parison processing (negatively) were associated with increased body dissatisfaction. In addition, poorer recall of both products and their brand names was associated with a greater impact of the media images on mood and body dissat- isfaction. We concluded that the dimensions on which social comparison takes place are critical in women’s response to media-portrayed thin ideal images, with comparisons on the basis of intelligence or education associated with more positive reactions. More generally, the results offer strong support to appearance social comparison as the mechanism by which idealized media images translate into body dissatisfaction for many women. The current high level of body dissatisfaction and disor- dered eating experienced by many women in Western soci- eties is generally attributed to sociocultural factors, and, in particular, to the powerful and pervasive influence of the mass media (e.g., Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff- Dunn, 1999; Tiggemann, 2002). Within the media, fashion and beauty magazines in particular have been identified as a prime source and disseminator of inordinately thin ideals for women (Malkin, Wornian, & Chrisler, 1999; Silverstein, Perdue, Peterson, & Kelly, 1986). Although these ideals are impossible for most women to achieve by healthy means, they are internalized by many, resulting in body dissatisfac- tion, dieting (Krah ´ e & Krause, 2010), and disordered eating behaviours (Thompson & Stice, 2001). There exists an extensive body of supporting correla- tional evidence linking naturally occurring exposure to fash- ion magazine images to body dissatisfaction, drive for thin- ness, and eating disorder symptomatology (e.g., Harrison Marika Tiggemann, School of Psychology, Flinders University; Janet Polivy, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Marika Tigge- mann, School of Psychology, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia. E-mail: Marika.Tiggemann@ flinders.edu.au & Cantor, 1997; Stice & Shaw, 1994; Tiggemann, 2005a). But such correlational evidence does not address the ques- tion of causal direction nor can it rule out selection biases. Consequently, in an effort to test the postulated causal role played by media images, a number of studies have experi- mentally manipulated exposure to thin idealized images by randomly assigning women to different conditions of expo- sure and by assessing their immediate impact. The meta- analysis of such studies by Groesz, Levine, and Murnen (2002) concluded that there were small, but relatively consistent, negative effects on mood, body dissatisfaction, and self-perception of physical attractiveness. Since then (2002), there has been a virtual explosion of such studies, overwhelmingly demonstrating negative effects of acute ex- posure to thin media ideals and confirmed by the more re- cently published meta-analysis of Grabe, Ward, and Hyde (2008). However, in some experimental studies, negative effects have been limited to particular subgroups of women with high trait body dissatisfaction (e.g., Posavac, Posavac, & Posavac, 1998), and a handful of studies have reported unexpected positive effects on appearance self-esteem or self-perception (e.g., Myers & Biocca, 1992; Mills, Polivy, Herman, & Tiggemann, 2002). These last authors have sug- gested that, under some conditions, thin ideals may encour- age a “thinness fantasy” that serves as a source of inspiration rather than discontent. 356