Do self-objectified women believe themselves to be free? Sexual objectification and belief in personal free will

Journal article

Cristina Baldissarri, Luca Andrighetto, Alessandro Gabbiadini, Roberta Rosa Valtorta, Alessandra Sacino, Chiara Volpato
Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 10, 2019, p. 1867

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01867

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APA Click to copy
Baldissarri, C., Andrighetto, L., Gabbiadini, A., Valtorta, R. R., Sacino, A., & Volpato, C. (2019). Do self-objectified women believe themselves to be free? Sexual objectification and belief in personal free will. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1867. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01867

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Baldissarri, Cristina, Luca Andrighetto, Alessandro Gabbiadini, Roberta Rosa Valtorta, Alessandra Sacino, and Chiara Volpato. “Do Self-Objectified Women Believe Themselves to Be Free? Sexual Objectification and Belief in Personal Free Will.” Frontiers in Psychology 10 (2019): 1867.

MLA Click to copy
Baldissarri, Cristina, et al. “Do Self-Objectified Women Believe Themselves to Be Free? Sexual Objectification and Belief in Personal Free Will.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 10, 2019, p. 1867, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01867.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{cristina2019a,
  title = {Do self-objectified women believe themselves to be free? Sexual objectification and belief in personal free will},
  year = {2019},
  journal = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  pages = {1867},
  volume = {10},
  doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01867},
  author = {Baldissarri, Cristina and Andrighetto, Luca and Gabbiadini, Alessandro and Valtorta, Roberta Rosa and Sacino, Alessandra and Volpato, Chiara}
}

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the indirect link between sexual objectification and belief in personal free will. We hypothesized that being subjected to objectifying commentary would lead women to self-objectify and, in turn, to perceive themselves as having less personal free will. In this study, 105 women were asked to sign up a website created for this study by providing a personal description and a photo. After signing up, they received feedback from a fictitious male user. Depending on the condition, the comment was neutral (baseline), focused on their description (non-objectifying) or focused on their physical appearance (objectifying). The results showed that participants in the objectifying condition (vs. non-objectifying vs. baseline) self-objectified (i.e., perceived themselves as lacking human mental states and more as an instrument vs. a human) and, in turn, believed that they had less personal free will. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for educators and therapists are discussed.