trashing negative self-talk project

Running head: TRASHING NEGATIVE SELF-TALK 1

Trashing Negative Self-Talk

Samantha Joyce Nguyen

HS 104 Section 1

Spring Project 2014

TRASHING NEGATIVE SELF-TALK 2

According to Etcoff (2004), “only 4% of women around the world consider themselves

beautiful.” This fact was very alarming to me. Having a positive self-body image is important for

the mental health of our society. It has been brought to my attention by a Dove campaign that our

civilization engages in a phenomenon called fat talk. Fat talk refers to when people speak

negatively about their body or someone else’s body. (Salk, 2012, 636) This can be said in many

forms. Have you ever heard someone say, “I look fat in these jeans”, “her legs look huge in that

swimsuit”, or “my arms are too flabby”? In my own life, I have heard many of my peers engage

in fat talk. A study published by Psychology of Women Quarterly of “college women found that

93% engaged in this type of talk.” (Salk, 2012, 638) Because this issue is very prevalent in my

community, I decided to address this problem to the San Jose State students for my spring

project.

I chose this topic because the way we speak to our bodies can be easily overlooked and

very harmful. A study reported that participants of fat talk increase the amount of body

dissatisfaction and guilt. (Salk, 2012, 637) Negative language can lead people to feel bad about

their minds and bodies. We speak thousands of words every day and it is easy to fall into fat talk.

Fat talk is associated with depression and the pressure to be thin. (Arroyo, 2012, 175) I have

noticed that many people, including myself, comment about appearance to initiate a

conversation. Not many people realize that this type of conversation can be damaging. For

example, “Your skin looks really good, Vanessa!” or “Robert, you look really good. Did you

lose weight?” Even if they seem to be compliments, it could make the other person feel as if their

skin did not look good before or that their previous body was overweight. It is important to know

that our words have power and that there are other things we can talk about than just

appearances.


Trashing Negative Self-Talk Tabling Guidelines

Materials Checklist

Purpose & Objectives

Purpose: The purpose of this activity is for students to be aware of how much fat talk they

engage in and how it can affect one’s view of their body.

Objective:

1. Students will learn the definition of fat talk.

2. Students will be challenged to end fat talk from their conversations.

3. Students will learn other facts about how fat talk can be damaging to their health.

Activity

Set-Up Directions: Print out the fact cards and the pledge cards to hand out. Cut 25 pieces of

paper in half. Collect the rest of the materials.

Facilitation Directions:

1. Before the activity begins, ask students what they think fat talk is.

2. Explain that fat talk refers to any state that contributes to one’s dissatisfaction with their

bodies.

3. Tell them one fact from the fact card. Did you know…

- 46% of 9-11 year olds are on diets?

- Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women?

Labeled Trash Can 10 Fact Cards50 Half-sheets of Paper 20 Pledge Cards5 pens 1 Clipboard


- 90% of all women ages 15-64 want to change at least one aspect of

their physical appearance, with body weight ranking the highest?

- One out of every four college aged women uses unhealthy methods

of weight control? (Excessive exercise, laxatives, self-induced

vomiting, skipping meals, etc.)

4. Ask them to write down something negative that they often say about their body on a

piece of paper.

5. Tell them to crumple it up and throw it in the trash!

6. If they are interested, they can pledge to eliminate fat talk from their conversation

forever!

Final Question

What is the definition of fat talk? What is an example?

Take Home Message

The take home message of this activity is for my peers to realize how much fat talk we all

engage in.

Website Resource

http://bi3d.tridelta.org/


Delta Delta Delta Fraternity, Inc. served as an inspiration for my spring project. Their

philanthropy is body image awareness and education. Although they are not an organization on

our campus, their events initiatives are available online for anyone who would like to host it on

their own campus. I conducted the activity on campus on Monday, April 21, 2014 from 3-5pm. I

stationed myself in the Campus Village Housing Quad. I chose this location because I know that

it is populated with students at all hours of the day.

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon to facilitate my activity! Because I did not have a big

sign to grab much attention, I actively went up to students and asked them to participate. I

strategically chose a short activity so that more students would participate. A lot of them that

seemed busy walking to classes were still able to give me a minute of their time. Every time I

asked one of my peers if they have engaged in fat talk, I received a confirming answer. No one

that I talked to that day said that they have never engaged in fat talk. This behavior was more

common than I anticipated.

Because I am passionate about this topic, I had a lot of fun telling others about it. The

topic of self-body image was interesting to other students. I could tell that they were paying close

attention to my words because their eyes were focused on me the entire time. Some students put

thought and emotion as they crumpled up their paper. The statistic that surprised students the

most was that 46% of 9-11 year olds are on diets. Most of the students asked me to repeat that

sentence after I said it once. Using the information change strategy played a big role on the

reaction of the students. I feel like it helped make a difference in the way people thought about

fat talk.

When I asked students if they wanted to take the pledge to end fat talk, a lot of them were

not sure they could do it. They promised to work to reduce the amount of fat talk that they


engage in, but it would be hard to end it completely. Little progress is still better than no

progress! I evaluated the effectiveness of this activity by asking a final question before the

participant left. I wanted them to walk away with the definition of fat talk with the intention of

making the change. Almost every student was able to explain what fat talk was. I was glad that I

was able to bring attention to this topic.

Next time, I could incorporate more than one activity at my station. Maybe I can add a

section where the students can write one thing that they like about their body and post it

somewhere. Another thing I would like to do differently is facilitate this station with a partner in

order to reach out to more people. It is hard to bring other people to participate if you are busy

facilitating the activity. I would recommend doing this project with a team of two or more! This

project addressed the community education level on the spectrum of prevention. The activity was

available to the community of San Jose State students.

What I did can be useful beyond this semester. Now that I have an idea on how many

people are affected by negative body image, I can bring it to the attention of health professionals.

Together, we can create bigger projects that will reach a larger amount of people. On a smaller

scale, I can start a social media campaign to raise awareness about body image. I can also host

more activities on our campus. Pursuing this prevention program will make a positive difference

in the future of our community. If we aim to reduce fat talk, it could reduce the risk of eating

disorders. (Katrevich, 2014, 50) Aiming to make the change in our community now will

positively affect how we raise the next generation.


Attachment 1: Using the Social Ecological Web of Solutions to End Negative Self-Talk


Attachment 2: Using the Spectrum of Prevention to End Negative Self-Talk

Building awareness within individuals and reducing their risks of eating disorders will

also reduce the risk of their peers following their behavior. We can prevent this one thing at a

time. If one person can monitor his or her use of fat talk, it can influence their friends and peers

to do the same.


References

Arroyo, A., & Harwood, J. (2012). Exploring the causes and consequences of engaging in fat

talk. Journal Of Applied Communication Research, 40(2), 167-187.

Etcoff, N., Orbach, S., Scott, J., D’Agostino, H. (2004). The real truth about beauty: a global

report. Findings of a Global Study on Women, Beauty and Well-Being, 1-48.

Katrevich, A. V., Register, J. D., & Aruguete, M. S. (2014). The effects of negative body talk

in an ethnically diverse sample of college students. North American Journal of

Psychology, 16(1), 43-52.

Salk, R. H., & Engeln-Maddox, R. (2012). Fat talk among college women is both contagious and

harmful. Sex Roles, 66(10), 636-645.

Salk, R. H., & Engeln-Maddox, R. (2011). “If you’re fat, then I’m humongous!”: Frequency,

content, and impact of fat talk among college women. Psychology Of Women

Quarterly, 35(1), 18-28.


Final Product/Evidence

Social Media Promotion Flyer

Contact Name: Samantha Nguyen

Email: [email protected]


One student signing a pledge that she will not engage in fat talk! The student on the right is writing down one negative statement that he says to himself often.

These students are trashing their negative statements! They are saying “no” to fat talk!

trashing negative self-talk project

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