Women can resist the promotional effect of sexualized model through late
cognitive reappraisal: evidence from the right f-LPP
Abstract
Contemporary mass media frequently prioritizes the attractiveness of
women’s sexual appearance over other attributes, which leads to the
viewing of women as sex objects (i.e., sexual objectification) and even,
women’s objectification of themselves (i.e., self-objectification).
Nevertheless, some women, especially those with low self-objectification
trait, could escape the influence of sexual objectifying propaganda. The
present study investigated whether and how these women overcome the
promotion of sexualized model and the associated neural activities using
EEG approach. The behavioral results showed that compared to sportswear,
swimsuits significantly increased the perception model’s attractiveness
(i.e., the promotional effect of sexual objectification), while this
increase was significantly smaller in women with low
self-objectification than in those with medium and high
self-objectification. EEG results revealed that attractiveness
perception of swimsuit model specifically induced a right frontal LPP,
an ERP component associated with reappraisal, and this LPP increased
pronouncedly in women with low self-objectification but not in those
with high self-objectification. Furthermore, a correlation between LPP
amplitude and perceived attractiveness of sexualized models was found in
women with low self-objectification. These results suggest that women,
especially those with low self-objectification, can resist the promotion
of sexualized models through late-stage cognitive regulation, i.e.,
cognitive reappraisal.