Social media and body image
Overview
Social media use is associated with poor body image in women and men, but why is that? One of the possible explanations is that social media constantly exposed them to idealised body imagery in social media. In this line of research, we investigate whether social media can be used in a positive way, namely using images as a way to critique idealised body standards. In doing so, we focus on both men and women since the majority of the studies have focused on women only. We are aiming to test whether body-positive and humorous parody imagery can have a positive impact on women and men’s body satisfaction and reduce body image concerns.
Initial studies on this topic have been funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant
Researchers
Research conducted by members of the Psychology of Gender and Sexuality Lab.
Principal Investigator
Dr Fabio Fasoli
Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology
Biography
I received my PhD in 2011 at University of Trento (Italy). From 2012 to 2013, I was a post-doc fellow first at CITEC (University of Bielefeld, Germany) and then at the University of Padua (Italy). In 2014-2015 I was a post-doc at ISCTE-IUL (Portugal), and a postdoc at the University of Milano-Bicocca in 2015-2016. I moved to Surrey in October 2016 as a Marie Sklodowska Curie fellow under the supervision of Prof Peter Hegarty. Since 2021 I have been the Programme Leader for the Social Psychology MSc and, from December 2023, I am the Chair of the Raninbow Network.
Co-principal Investigator
Professor Jane Ogden
Professor of Health Psychology
Biography
I'm a Professor of Health Psychology and I've been researching and writing about eating behaviour and weight management for over 30 years. My research interests include obesity management, aspects of women’s health and communication in healthcare. I often share my expertise and I'm a frequent contributor to magazines, radio and television including Secret Eaters, The Truth about Fat and The Truth about Take Aways for Channel 4.
I've written several books including a textbook in health psychology, now in its sixth edition, and Thinking Critically about Research which is for anyone interested in research. I've also authored books for a more general audience, including The Psychology of Dieting and The Good Parenting Food Guide.
I teach psychology, nutrition, dietetics and veterinary science students to think psychologically about health. I am also the Programme Leader of the PhD Psychology course.
Research themes
Find out more about our research at Surrey: