When looking ‘hot’ means not feeling cold: Evidence that self-objectification inhibits feelings of being cold
Corresponding Author
Roxanne N. Felig
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Roxanne N. Felig, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33606, USA (email: roxannefelig@usf.edu).
Contribution: Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorJessica A. Jordan
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Contribution: Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorSamantha L. Shepard
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Contribution: Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorEmily P. Courtney
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Contribution: Investigation (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorJamie L. Goldenberg
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Methodology (equal), Supervision (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorTomi-Ann Roberts
Department of Psychology, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Resources (equal), Supervision (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Roxanne N. Felig
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Roxanne N. Felig, Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33606, USA (email: roxannefelig@usf.edu).
Contribution: Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Project administration (equal), Supervision (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorJessica A. Jordan
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Contribution: Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorSamantha L. Shepard
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Contribution: Investigation (equal), Methodology (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorEmily P. Courtney
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Contribution: Investigation (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorJamie L. Goldenberg
Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Methodology (equal), Supervision (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorTomi-Ann Roberts
Department of Psychology, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
Contribution: Conceptualization (equal), Resources (equal), Supervision (equal), Writing - original draft (equal), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Self-objectification, the internalization of an observer’s appearance-based perspective of one’s body, has been theorized and demonstrated to reduce body awareness among women. In this field study, we propose self-objectification as the mechanism to explain the oft-observed phenomenon where women wearing little clothing appear unbothered by cold weather, positing that self-objectification obstructs women’s feelings of cold. We surveyed women outside nightclubs on cold nights, assessed self-objectification, and asked participants to report how cold they felt. Anonymous photos were taken and coded for amount of skin exposure. We hypothesized that self-objectification would moderate the relationship between clothing coverage and reports of feeling cold. Our hypothesis was supported: women low in self-objectification showed a positive, intuitive, relationship between skin exposure and perceptions of coldness, but women more highly focused on their appearance did not feel colder when wearing less clothing. These findings offer support for the relationship between self-objectification and awareness of bodily sensations in the context of a naturalistic setting. We discuss implications of these findings, and also consider limitations, an alternative explanation, and directions for future research.
Conflicts of interest
We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Data availability statement
All measures, data, and syntax are available on the Open Science Framework, https://osf.io/hd7rp/
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