Makenzie Schroeder, PhD Candidate, and Dr. Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri, published a new paper titled “Digitally Curated Beauty: The Impact of Slimming Beauty Filters on Body Image, Weight Loss Desire, Self-Objectification, and Anti-Fat Attitudes” in Computers in Human Behavior. The study explores the relationship between filter usage, self-objectification, anti-fat attitudes, and weight loss desirability.

Several articles quoted and featured this research across platforms, including PsyPost, Satisfied, and the French magazine Cerveau&Psycho. Makenzie Schroeder and Dr. Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz also spoke with Dr. Patrick O'Shea for The Versatilist Podcast. Interest in the psychological impact of AI beauty filters is growing. This research is a starting point to begin understanding how digital affordances are adding to the ever-present problem of thin idealization. Future work should consider how filters and other software may trigger people into doing “what it takes” (even when harmful) to get “the perfect body.”

We are glad to see that this academic paper is spreading across platforms and facilitating the transfer of knowledge to people's beliefs about body size.