Editing the Self Away: The Effects of Photo Manipulation on Perceptions of the Self

The use of editing applications to manipulate photos of one’s self prior to sharing them on social media has skyrocketed over the past decade, particularly among women. However, there is little research examining the consequences of such behavior. In this research, we experimentally examined the consequences of editing a photo of one’s self on self-objectification and self-concept clarity in a sample of 231 women. A correlational Pilot Study provided preliminary evidence for a relationship between self-objectification, self-concept clarity, and photo manipulation, and my Thesis was conducted to further explore this relationship. We anticipated that when women were exposed to objectifying media (compared to nature images) they would spend longer editing a photo of themselves, which would in turn increase the extent to which they objectify themselves and decrease their self-concept clarity. When controlling for baseline self-concept clarity, women edited a photo of themselves for significantly longer after being exposed to objectifying media as compared to nature images. While no effects on self-objectification emerged, our data do suggest that an increase in time spent editing a photo of the self results in decreased self-concept clarity in women