The impact of appearance-focussed social media and self-objectification on mood
- 1Department of Psychology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
Abstract
Viewing appearance-focussed social media (e.g., thinspiration, fitspiration, body positivity) is associated with increased self-objectification in women. However, it is unclear how increases in self-objectification directly relate to momentary differences in mood when viewing different types of social media content, and whether a general tendency to self-objectify enhances vulnerability to negative moods in this context. The current study used a within-subjects experimental design to examine momentary differences in self-objectification and mood across five categories of TikTok videos (three appearance-focussed; two neutral). 323 women and feminine-identifying people reported on their general disposition to self-objectify before viewing a randomized set of 20 TikTok videos. After each video, participants reported state levels of self-objectification along with positive and negative affect. Individuals with a greater tendency to self-objectify reported more state self-objectification after viewing thinspiration and body positive content and were more vulnerable to increases in negative mood after viewing thinspiration. Interestingly, increases in state self-objectification were linked to increases in positive mood after viewing body positive content. Trait self-objectification had no effect on positive mood across video categories. These results shed light on the conflicting effects of self-objectification on social media induced mood and self-objectification.
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BibTeX
@article{jones2026impact,
title = {{The impact of appearance-focussed social media and self-objectification on mood}},
author = {Samantha M. Jones and Faith A. Pasternak and Erin A. Heerey},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0355465},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0355465},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The impact of appearance-focussed social media and self-objectification on mood
AU - Samantha M. Jones
AU - Faith A. Pasternak
AU - Erin A. Heerey
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/09
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0355465
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0355465
AB - Viewing appearance-focussed social media (e.g., thinspiration, fitspiration, body positivity) is associated with increased self-objectification in women. However, it is unclear how increases in self-objectification directly relate to momentary differences in mood when viewing different types of social media content, and whether a general tendency to self-objectify enhances vulnerability to negative moods in this context. The current study used a within-subjects experimental design to examine momentary differences in self-objectification and mood across five categories of TikTok videos (three appearance-focussed; two neutral). 323 women and feminine-identifying people reported on their general disposition to self-objectify before viewing a randomized set of 20 TikTok videos. After each video, participants reported state levels of self-objectification along with positive and negative affect. Individuals with a greater tendency to self-objectify reported more state self-objectification after viewing thinspiration and body positive content and were more vulnerable to increases in negative mood after viewing thinspiration. Interestingly, increases in state self-objectification were linked to increases in positive mood after viewing body positive content. Trait self-objectification had no effect on positive mood across video categories. These results shed light on the conflicting effects of self-objectification on social media induced mood and self-objectification.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -