The impact of exposure to unrealistically high beauty standards on inhibitory control

Common processes underlying the effects of exposure to unattainable beauty standards and their regulation are currently poorly understood. The present study therefore investigates the impact of this exposure on executive inhibitory control. Between two blocks of a semantic Stroop task, seventy-two healthy young women were exposed to pictures of a thin beauty model (vs control pictures). Exposure to the model did not affect the level of semantic Stroop interference. However, standard Stroop interference (which includes an inhibitory control component) increased for control participants in the second block, while participants exposed to the model maintained the same level of standard Stroop interference across the two blocks. These results suggest that comparison with an unrealistically high beauty standard facilitates the deployment of inhibitory control over time. The discussion focuses on the potential role of motivation to avoid aversive self-awareness and the associated negative emotions in these effects, as well as their practical implications.