Mr. Jamie Farquhar

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  alumni.mta.ca/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/10/2006    Last Visited: 3/6/2007  

  Alumni of the Week: Jamie Farquhar '06
  ...
  Jamie Farquhar, a fourth-year Mount Allison student from Charlottetown, PEI, examined how male models were presented in the advertisements of Sports Illustrated during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, to present.And his findings suggest that media images of men encourage men to think differently about their bodies.
  
  Jamie's work is the first of its kind and has not only gained him national media attention but also a chance to showcase his study "Marketing the new man: Changing the body from process to object" at the annual conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) in Palm Springs California this January.
  
  "Men are demonstrating increased dissatisfaction in their overall appearance, but little research has been done to examine what has contributed to these increases," Jamie said.
  
  He said his first step was to examine how male bodies are being presented in the media.Past research has indicated that there are two ways to conceptualize the body - ‘body-as-process' and ‘body-as-object.' His interest was in finding out if body presentation has changed from ‘body-as-process' (emphasizing instrumental abilities) to ‘body-as-object' (emphasizing aesthetic qualities).
  
  "I created a way to measure changes in body presentation, and applied this to male models in the advertisements of Sports Illustrated, a popular weekly sports magazine read predominantly by men.I found that since the 1970s, men have been presented more as ‘body-as-object': models are more posed, more nude, more fragmented, less active, have less direct eye gaze, and use the advertised item less."
  
  Jamie said these changes appear to map the increases in body dissatisfaction among men, and may, therefore, contribute to these increases.His next step will be examining the causal relationship between body presentation and body dissatisfaction.
  
  Jamie said while he suspected that there would be changes in the way men's bodies have been presented in the media, he was surprised that there was such a steady trend from the 1970s to today, where the male form is being presented more ‘body-as-object'.
  
  So what brought Jamie to this fascinating topic in the first place?
  
  "I am very interested in the self, and self-evaluations.In particular, I am interested in how we evaluate our physical appearance," Jamie said."When determining what area of this interest I wanted to explore for my honors thesis, I had to address the gaps in previous research.Since body image research has primarily focused on women, my supervisor and I decided to address the body image concerns of men."
  
  Jamie said that no other study has examined body presentation in this way."To my knowledge, this is the first study for either women or men that has examined the proposed two ways the body can be presented/conceptualized (body-as-object vs. body-as-process)."
  
  With the SPSP conference right around the corner, Jamie is well aware of the opportunity at hand.
  
  "Having attended the conference last year in New Orleans as an observer, I can say that the vast majority of presenters are at the graduate and post-graduate level.For me to be presenting research completed at an undergraduate level is thrilling," Jamie said.
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  Wanting to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology, Jamie is interested in working with a large range of mental disorders, keeping a special focus on eating disorders and other body image disturbances.
  
  SPSP is the largest organization of personality and social psychologists in the world and has the goal of generating and disseminating research and Jamie is the first psychology student from Mount Allison to present his research at this conference.The selection committee described Jamie's submission as "interesting and worthwhile" and declared that they were excited to have it on the program.
  
  Jamie is one of 11 psychology students who will be completing an honours thesis this academic year and will continue to work under the supervision of Dr. Louise Wasylkiw.

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  Alumni Online - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/10/2006    Last Visited: 8/13/2007  

  Alumni of the Week: Jamie Farquhar '06
  ...
  Jamie Farquhar, a fourth-year Mount Allison student from Charlottetown, PEI, examined how male models were presented in the advertisements of Sports Illustrated during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, to present.And his findings suggest that media images of men encourage men to think differently about their bodies.

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  CURRENT REPRESENTATIVES - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/20/2005    Last Visited: 4/27/2006  

  Jamie Farquharjcfrqhr@mta.ca

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  In search of male perfection - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/26/2005    Last Visited: 5/9/2009  

  Jamie Farquhar, a fourth-year psychology student at Mount Allison University has recently completed the first stage of a research project looking at the role of the media in male attitudes towards their bodies.
  
  Farquhar looked at 30 years of advertising in magazines like Sports Illustrated and discovered a marked change in how the male body is presented.
  
  He says today's male advertising images are more nude, more posed and with more emphasis on body parts and the presentation of the male physique as an object.
  
  "If the media is teaching us to look at the body as an object, then it's no surprise we're being more critical and less satisfied with our bodies," Farquhar says.

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  LIFESTYLE 2006 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/1/2006    Last Visited: 3/28/2009  

  Jamie Farquhar, a fourth-year psychology student at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., has recently completed the first stage of a research project looking at the role of the media in male attitudes towards their bodies. Farquhar, who will be presenting his findings in January at a psychology symposium in California, looked at 30 years of advertising in magazines such as Sports Illustrated and discovered a marked change in how the male body is presented. He says today's male advertising images are more nude, more posed and with more emphasis on body parts and the presentation of the male physique as an object. "If the media is teaching us to look at the body as an object, then it's no surprise we're being more critical and less satisfied with our bodies," Farquhar says.

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  canadaeast.com - TP Life - Other - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/19/2005    Last Visited: 9/19/2005  

  Jamie Farquhar, a fourth-year psychology student at Mount Allison University, has recently completed the first stage of a research project looking at the role of the media in male attitudes towards their bodies.
  
  Mr. Farquhar, who will be presenting his findings in January at a psychology symposium in California, looked at 30 years of advertising in magazines like Sports Illustrated and discovered a marked change in how the male body is presented.
  
  He says today's male advertising images are more nude, more posed and with more emphasis on body parts and the presentation of the male physique as an object.
  
  "If the media is teaching us to look at the body as an object, then it's no surprise we're being more critical and less satisfied with our bodies," Mr. Farquhar says.

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