Date of Award
Spring 2012
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Clinical Psychology
First Advisor
Franzoi, Stephen L.
Second Advisor
Saunders, Stephen
Third Advisor
Oswald, Debra
Abstract
This study examined the effects of fashion advertisements on young adults' physical self-assessments, including mood, leadership role selection, body esteem, and attributional style. Two hundred seventy seven participants, including 110 men and 167 women completed a series of questionnaires. Results indicated that both men and women who were exposed to images of same-sex physical exemplars responded with an externalizing attributional style after imagining a hypothetical "bad" blind date. Men's reported mood was consistent with their cognitive judgment, indicative of having engaged in the self-serving bias, while women's mood was discordant with their externalization of the event. Gender differences and similarities are discussed.