“Contrary to Dittmar et al. (2006), we did not find that exposure to a thin doll negatively affected body esteem or actual-ideal body size discrepancy compared with exposure to an average-sized doll for girls younger or older than 7.5 years. An explanation might be that Dittmar et al. (2006) exposed the girls to a picture book with images of the dolls - which might not be different from exposure to thin models in magazines- whereas the girls in our study actually played with the dolls. Magazine exposure might indirectly imply more ‘aggressive’ norm-setting, since it is a form of media exposure and the media is known for setting social and cultural norms regarding appearance even in young children (Lawrie et al. 2007). In Dittmar et al. (2006), the images of the dolls might actually have functioned as thin model images. We know from the literature that exposure to slim model images is related to higher body dissatisfaction than exposure to average or oversized model images (for reviews see Grabe et al. 2008; Groesz et al. 2002). It is important to keep in mind that the young girls in the current study were aware of the body size of the dolls, as is shown by the substantial differences between experimental conditions on the manipulation check. Thus, the lack of effects on girls’ body image cannot be explained by the fact that they did not notice the dolls’ body sizes. Still, when exposed to a real doll the girls might experience less external pressure, because they are in control of the play and no explicit norms are imposed by the environment. Therefore this type of exposure might not directly affect their body image, which might be rather stable. Future studies might explicitly compare the effects of toys with the effects of portrayals of thin images in the media.
Interestingly, we did find an effect on girls’ actual eating behavior. They ate less food when they played with the thin dolls than when they played with the average sized doll. Perhaps the girls were inspired by the Barbie to achieve a slim body and therefore ate less. Results of previous studies showed that young girls are already aware of the thin ideal and weight loss strategies to achieve this ideal (e.g., Dohnt and Tiggemann 2004). However, closer inspection of the means indicated that the girls ate more when they played with the average sized Emme doll instead of eating less when they played with the thin dolls. This might be explained by the fact that exposure to a heavier model leads to elevated food intake. In a different context, studies focusing on imitation of eating behavior revealed that the physical appearance of a model can influence the ‘normative’ standard of food intake in an eating context (Salvy et al. 2007). Hermans et al. (2008) found that the Dutch female students in their experiment only imitated the elevated intake of a confederate if the confederate was of normal weight, and not if the confederate was slim. Although the dolls in our study did not eat, it still might have been the case that their physical appearance created a differential eating context in which the average sized doll created a context where eating an unrestricted amount of test food would be normative and socially accepted. Accordingly, the body size of a model in a certain context might refer to a normative eating standard (Anschutz et al. 2008), which might explain why the girls in the present study ate more when they played with the average sized doll. Different types of norms might apply to food intake compared to body image, as body image was not affected in the present study. Norms regarding body image might be related to ‘thinness’ (so these norms might be communicated by thin images/dolls), whereas our results regarding food intake suggest that it was actually the larger doll that carried out a norm regarding food intake.
The average-sized doll might also have caused a relief effect. This relief effect, implying that some women feel better about their own body and might even eat more after exposure to average sized media models, was previously found in adult females (Anschutz et al. 2008; Dittmar and Howard 2004). In the current study, playing with a more realistically proportioned doll may have freed the girls from dietary restraint and made them feel that they could take as many sweets as they wanted. This explanation is further supported by the finding that almost half of the girls in our sample desired a thinner body size. It would be interesting to replicate the present study using healthy test food. It could be examined whether the girls would also eat more healthy food after exposure to an average sized doll, which would then clearly be a positive eating behavior. Another suggestion for future research might be to let the girls play that they are preparing a dinner, using a setting with all kinds of foods (healthy and unhealthy), to see whether they are more likely to choose healthy foods and maybe also less food when they play with a thin doll than when playing with an average sized doll.”
Full article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991547/