Body Image 20 (2017) 1–6 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Body Image journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bodyimage Social comparisons with media images are cognitively inefficient even for women who say they feel pressure from the media Stephen C. Want * , Alyssa Saiphoo Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 27 May 2016 Received in revised form 17 October 2016 Accepted 18 October 2016 Keywords: Social comparison Media images Body image Efficiency Automaticity Cognitive busyness a b s t r a c t The present study investigated whether social comparisons with media images are cognitively efficient (demanding minimal mental effort) or cognitively effortful processes, in a sample of female undergrad- uate students (N = 151) who reported feeling pressure from the media regarding their appearance. Two groups were shown 12 images of thin and attractive female models. One group was asked to memorize a complex 8-digit number during exposure to the images (Cognitively Busy condition), while the other memorized a much simpler number (Free View condition). A third group (Control condition) viewed images without people. Participants in the Free View condition demonstrated significantly increased negative mood and lowered appearance satisfaction from before to after exposure, while participants in the Cognitively Busy and Control conditions did not. We argue that these results suggest social compar- isons with media images are at least somewhat cognitively effortful even among women who say they feel pressure from the media. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction Meta-analyses demonstrate that in-lab exposure to images of thin and physically attractive women from media images (e.g., mag- azines, websites) causes small decreases in appearance satisfaction and increases in negative mood (e.g., anger) among university-aged women (Groesz, Levine, & Murnen, 2002; Want, 2009), although these effects may be moderated by pre-existing concerns about appearance (Ferguson, 2013; Hausenblas et al., 2013). Research has consistently identified upward social comparisons (Festinger, 1954) that viewers make between their own appearance and these extremely thin and attractive images as the mechanism of these short-term detrimental effects (Tiggemann & Polivy, 2010; Tiggemann, Polivy, & Hargreaves, 2009). However, much remains to be learned about the way in which these comparisons operate. One question that has yet to be conclusively answered is how cognitively efficient social comparisons with media images are. A cognitively efficient mental process is one that requires little time or mental effort to carry out (Bargh, 1994), as for example, when a skilled reader merely glances at a word and the meaning of it becomes apparent. The cognitive efficiency of a mental process is * Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada. E-mail address: swant@ryerson.ca (S.C. Want). theoretically distinct from other aspects of its automaticity, such as whether the process is spontaneously (versus deliberately) ini- tiated, whether it can be interrupted once initiated, and whether we are aware of its operation (for a discussion, see Bargh, 1994). Taking their lead from Gilbert, Giesler, and Morris (1995), many researchers (e.g., Dalley, Buunk, & Umit, 2009; Want, 2009) have speculated that social comparisons with media images are highly cognitively efficient processes. However, data directly addressing this question are currently sparse. There are two accepted indicators that a mental process is highly cognitive efficient (Payne, 2012): (1) if it operates when little time can be devoted to it, and; (2) if it operates while we are engaged in another, simultaneous task (i.e., while we are cognitively busy). Thus, if social comparisons with media images are highly cogni- tively efficient, then such images should cause detrimental effects on viewers even if presented only briefly, or while viewers are dis- tracted with another task. To date, studies using these two different approaches have found mixed results. On the one hand, Brown and Dittmar (2005) found that expo- sure to a series of media images for just 150 ms per image increased weight-related anxiety for women who scored above the mean on the Internalization subscale of the Sociocultural Attitude Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ: Heinberg, Thompson, & Stormer, 1995). This result suggests that participants had made social comparisons to the images despite seeing them only briefly, and thus that the comparisons were somewhat cognitive efficient. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.10.009 1740-1445/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.