This study explored whether women who have breast augmentation are more vulnerable to negative stereotypes about their intelligence and abilities than women who do not elect to have breast augmentation. Furthermore, whether the motivation for seeking such surgery contributes to stereotypes was also explored. Participants in this study read experimentally manipulated biographies of a fictitious female author, followed by her short story. The only manipulation was one line in the author's biography which varied the reason for the plastic surgery across 4 conditions (for herself, for her significant other, for medical reconstructive reasons, or no surgery). The participants were asked to read and evaluate the author and her work. The results of this study suggest that women who elect to have plastic surgery for herself or her husband are perceived as being less deep. The results also suggest that women who have previously elected to have plastic surgery judged the authors' fictional work more critically when she had plastic surgery for herself or for her husband.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-1685 |
| Date | 01 January 2007 |
| Creators | Bly, Nicole |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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