New research in Psychology of Women Quarterly explores the relationship between how one presents themselves on social media platforms and their tendency to self-objectify. Researcher Shilei Chen and colleagues conducted four studies across different social media platforms looking for confirmation of this relationship and its potential causes.

Their results indicate that as women engage in more strategic self-presentation on social media platforms, their self-objectification increases. Their work also revealed that approval motivation might be the key to this relationship. Recognizing the consequences faced by women and girls who are driven to present perfected versions of themselves on social media is valuable for clinicians and parents alike.

Strategic self-presentation is the process of editing the self so that a pleasing version is exposed to the world. (…)