Maria Sansoni is a PhD student at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, in Milan (Italy). Her PhD aims to develop Virtual Reality interventions to improve cancer patients’ psychological well-being. Her main focus of research is body image, and she is interested in analyzing this dimension both in patients with cancer and among the general population.

Project description:

Nowadays, most cultures attribute an important role to attractiveness, leading people to define their identity in terms of appearance. This is especially true if we think about social media like Instagram. Instagram presents, in fact, to the users’ unattainable beauty standards, and then offers tools (i.e., filters) to feel closer to them. This modus operandi creates a discrepancy between users’ ideal and actual self, with detrimental effects on psychological well-being. Millions of people are exposed every day to this silent phenomenon. Thus, it is urgent to investigate what is happening, and to preserve users’ well-being. This project therefore aims to assess the psychological impact of Instagram filters, and to develop an intervention to protect users from social media perfection.