Competence Perceptions and Affective Responses Limit Social Sharing of Images Featuring People with Larger Body Sizes.

ABSTRACT: People with larger body sizes often face underrepresentation in popular media. However, the rise of social media has led to increased visibility for this demographic group. Our research, encompassing five studies, investigated how audiences react to social media images featuring individuals with larger body sizes, focusing on affective responses and social transmission dynamics. We identified a gender-specific gap in sharing behavior such that male viewers show lower sharing intentions for such images (Study 1), mediated by stereotypic perceptions of low competence in larger-sized people and decreased positive affect (Study 2). This pattern holds for images with both female and male models (Study 3) and extends to contexts where body size is not a central factor (Study 4). To address this,

SUBMITTER: Xie F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11624147 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature