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2009), appearancerelated teasing (Markey and Markey 2009; Sarwer et al. 2003a, b), internalized media appearance ideals (Sarwer et al. 2005; Sperry et al. 2009), and appearance-based rejection sensitivity (Calogero et al. 2010; Park et al. 2009, 2010). What sets the present research apart from this impressive body of work is our reliance on a systematic theoretical framework to explain why women undergo cosmetic surgery at a disproportionately higher rate than men. Whereas many of the aforementioned intrapsychic and Sex Roles interpersonal factors predicting cosmetic surgery attitudes could be similarly experienced by both women and men, it is well-documented that experiences of interpersonal sexual objectification (hereafter referred to as sexual objectification), self-surveillance (the behavioural manifestation of selfobjectification), and body shame are part of many women’s, but fewer men’s, day-to-day lives (Bartky 1990; Davis 1990; Fredrickson and Roberts 1997; Puwar 2004; Swim et al. 2001). Being routinely viewed and treated as an object for the pleasure of others, coming to view oneself as an object for this use, and feeling ashamed of the body when not meeting stringent appearance standards, may bring about a sort of psychic distancing between the self and the body that encourages women to support even further objectification of their bodies via elective surgical procedures. We focus on three specific components of cosmetic surgery attitudes in the present study. First, researchers have theorized two broad motives that underpin people’s support for cosmetic surgery: intrapersonal motives and social motives (Cash and Fleming 2002; Henderson-King and Henderson-King 2005). Intrapersonal motives emphasize the use of cosmetic surgery to manage one’s self-image, alleviate feelings of inadequacy, and to feel better about oneself (Davis 1995; Didie and Sarwer 2003). From this perspective, it is acceptable to undergo cosmetic surgery to modify one’s physical appearance if the purpose is selfmotivated. Given that self-surveillance represents an internally-driven view of the self as a sexual object (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997; McKinley and Hyde 1996), we expected that higher self-surveillance would be associated with intrapersonal motives, reflecting the overvaluation of physical appearance to one’s self-image. Social motives emphasize the use of cosmetic surgery to garner favourable evaluations from others (Davis 1995; Henderson-King and Henderson-King 2005), based on the notion that enhancing one’s physical attractiveness to others brings social rewards (Eagly et al. 1991; Engeln-Maddox 2006; Evans 2003). From this perspective, it is acceptable to undergo cosmetic surgery to modify physical appearance if the purpose is to gain social currency. Given that sexual objectification and body shame are more closely linked to anticipated or actual social evaluations (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997; Tangney et al. 1996), we expected that more experiences of sexual objectification and higher body shame would be associated with social motives, reflecting the overvaluation of external observer’s perspectives on one’s physical appearance. In addition to these motives, we examined the degree to which people would consider undergoing cosmetic surgery in the future. Given that each of the three objectification theory variables call attention to the evaluation and appearance of women’s bodies, we expected that all three variables would be associated with greater consideration of cosmetic surgery. We also expected that these relationships would remain significant after controlling for global self-esteem and impression management. Global self-esteem, defined as a personal judgment of self-worth, is a well-known indicator of overall well-being (Harter 1993) and linked to women’s experiences of objectification and cosmetic surgery. Specifically, self-esteem has been negatively associated with experiences of sexual objectification (American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls 2007; Tylka and Subich 2004), self-objectification and self-surveillance (Aubrey 2006; Mercurio and Landry 2008; Tolman et al. 2006), and body shame (Aubrey 2006; Lowery et al. 2005; Mercurio and Landry 2008). In other research, however, women with high self-esteem who also strongly based their self-worth on their appearance reported greater well-being when they self-objectified compared to other women, in part because they felt less unattractive when they self-objectified (Breines et al. 2008). In addition, lower trait (Swami et al. 2009) and state (Henderson-King and Henderson-King 2005) self-esteem have been associated with more positive attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. Impression management (Leary and Kowalski 1990; Paulhus 1991), or the tendency to engage in socially desirable responding to control how one appears to others, also may be relevant to women’s experiences of objectification and cosmetic surgery. For example, individuals with a stronger tendency to control how they appear to others may be more sensitive to experiences of objectification and/ or hold more positive attitudes toward cosmetic surgery if they believe these procedures would garner more favourable evaluations from others. In sum, because both global self-esteem and
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