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Cosmetic dieting occurs within the context of various sources of persuasion
to modify body shape or reduce body weight. Social influence, which necessarily
involves cultural norms and values about women’s bodies and their eating
habits, is perpetuated to a large extent through the media. More immediate forms
of social influence operate via significant others.
Peers and parents operate as "society’s messengers", exerting
pressure on adolescents to achieve the cultural ideal of thinness and attractiveness.
Social psychological analyses of social influence shed some light on the form
and possible role these influences take. First, social influence derives from
modelling, which is particularly influential when the other person is likable,
and similar, or someone with whom the adolescent can identify. This form of influence
is especially relevant for understanding the impact of the media images to which
young women are exposed. Modelling is distinguished from conformity, in which
the influence derives from the perception that other people expect behaviour that
is consistent with their norms. Peer group norms are able to exert their effect
because individuals need to affiliate or to be associated with a group of friends.
Compliance represents a more direct form of social influence that involves explicit
pressure and can be in the form of teasing or ridicule.
All these forms of social influence have been shown to have significant and
unique effects on adolescent behaviour. The social pressures that encourage girls
and young women to diet coincide with a heightened sensitivity to sociocultural
norms and to the opinions of others.
It is important to emphasise, however, that not all those who are exposed to
the same social influences exhibit the same level of dieting behaviour. Thus,
important research questions concern the role of individual differences in moderating
the effects of these social influences, and in particular, how personality might
predispose or alternatively, protect against the pressures that persuade adolescent
girls to diet.
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