14 DAY TRIAL // Making a woman feel better about herself might have nothing to do with saying the little, white lies we’ve been hearing about since almost forever and that are usually recommended as socially acceptable. Instead, as a new study quoted by Medical News Today shows, it’s enough to smile in approval to tell a woman that she looks good and thus boost her self confidence.
Body image in women is believed to be dependent on social acceptance, which is all the more true in those ladies who have a low self-esteem as regards their appearance. By means of the simple effect of “classic conditioning,” a smile of approval sends them the message that they look good, and are therefore accepted in society. At the same time, their body image receives an incredible boost, which makes lying to them redundant, the findings of the study indicate.
“The positive effect we witnessed supports the idea that body satisfaction may be linked to the idea of social approval. Simply showing these women photos of themselves followed by a smiling face – signaling social approval – increased their body satisfaction and self esteem significantly. This simple classic conditioning procedure may be a useful way to increase body and weight satisfaction, and it may be worth extending this experiment to a group of people with clinically diagnosed eating disorders.” Carolien Martijn of the Maastricht University, Holland, and leader of the study, says of the findings.
The study included 57 normal-weight women who were first questioned about their self-esteem and body image. They were then photographed and were asked to look at the pictures. Each picture was followed by another image, showing either a smiling or a neutral face. At the end of the study, the women whose photos were followed by a smiling face recorded higher levels of self confidence, while those who got a neutral or frowning face were even more body-conscious than before.
On the findings of this study, researchers are now working on a way of coming up with efficient strategies of boosting self confidence in women who suffer from eating disorders, Medical News Today also informs.