Individual Preoccupation with Body Image the Psychological Perspective - Report Example

BIOLOGY Body image constitutes an element of self-concept, and includes the satisfaction we feel about our body and its appearance. Practically, satisfaction occurs on a continuum and is influenced by cultural standards and societal expectations. Body image reflects the way people think, behave, and feel about their physical attributes. Psychology attempts to understand human behavior, and studies of body image often emphasize pathology rather than the positive effects of achieving a healthy self concept. However, to understand and treat disorders, one must understand the causes, therefore, psychologists attempt to gain an understanding of disorders to achieve a healthier well-being. From personal perspective and as evidenced in numerous studies a negative body image leads to dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. According to numerous studies, people who are dissatisfied with their bodies can experience low self-esteem. In a culture in which the ideal body type is difficult to obtain, people with a negative sense of self would most likely reflect these eelings of worthlessness in how they perceive their body. Low levels of self-esteem in addition to body dissatisfaction in both men and women have been affected by social comparisons to idealistic representations of the body as found in the media. From personal experience, in wanting to be like those models in magazines and movies, I articulated ideas about how to obtain the ideal look. There were times when it seemed impossible to achieve the desired look without partaking in unhealthy behaviors such as binge exercising, restrictive eating, or plastic surgery, which eventually regardless of the result led to low self-esteem and depressive mood. My friend and I wanted to look like models and be that sexy, but frankly speaking we would never do anything so extreme as to hurt ourselves to get there. We would say excuses like, “Im too lazy,” or, “Theres no way; Im too big boned in the hips,” and even those harmless excuses sometimes resulted in depressive mood swings and low self-esteem and diminished feeling of self-worth. Nonetheless, a large part of this process has been unconscious. For example, in eighth grade, one of my closest friends and I did not eat breakfast and would have little more than an apple for lunch. My excuse was that I wanted to sleep as long as possible in the mornings, or I rushed to school without time for eating breakfast or making a lunch. By the time school ended, I was starving and ate whatever someone would give me. Restricting our caloric intake was not intentional, but looking back and talking with that friend, I see there was some underlying motivation to do so. Then, in later years, I went to the gym for two or more hours at a time with a friend who, like me, was determined to control weight. This activity was intentional, but was it healthy? Constantly comparing ourselves to the beauty ideal personified in the media continued to make the image seem impossible and yet something we needed to be. From the psychological perspective, individual preoccupation with body image originates from social anxiety regarding an impression of how one appears to others. When I was concerned with my physical appearance (body image), I was “socially anxious” and started monitoring every aspect of my external appearance and behavior, such as facial expression, actions and posture. In many cases, because of my negative bias present in the mental image of myself, I concluded that I was failing to meet the audience’s standards and, as a result, rejection or negative evaluation were likely to happen. These negative predictions of the consequences of appearance resulted in internal physiological discomfort and external feedback from the behavior of others. From the critical perspective, body image, body dissatisfaction, and various risk factors associated with it differ by gender. Outcomes in body dissatisfaction for men and women may be concurrently dangerous at the extreme ends; however, body image may be more problematic for women, particularly for young women. For them pubertal changes are associated with more negative meanings and consequences in American culture as normal increases in female adolescents’ body fat can negatively affect body image and self-concept. Practically, for young women the presence of elevated body mass is viewed as a deviation from the thin ideal body type and it is common for them being unhappy with their bodies, report body image dissatisfaction, and judge themselves as fat when they may be average weight or even underweight. In fact, women are most satisfied with their bodies when they are underweight. Women often engage in strategies to lose body fat in order to meet the ideal body type, including calorie-restrictive dieting. Such dieting can be dangerous with temporary effects that include fatigue, headaches, and irritability and long lasting effect that include eating problems, growth stunting, and bone density loss. Socially, womens greater concern with body image may be embedded in the cultural underpinnings of the female body, which is an object to be looked at and evaluated by others, particularly by men. The function of the female body is to be attractive and sexually pleasing. From the critical perspective, the cultural messages that women receive may be more consistent than those directed at men suggesting etiological differences in body image problems for both. The body image concerns of men often has been traditionally attributed to thinness, although this thinking may inadequately capture men’s body image preferences. Practically, just as women experience pressures to be exceedingly thin, men are exposed to social and cultural expectations to be muscular. Remembering own years during puberty, I believe for boys this stage has been a more positive experience than for girls, in which the changes occurring in boys’ body weight and shape were more positive and desired. Boys’ concerns often focused on wanting to be larger and more muscular. And it seemed that boys were most satisfied with their bodies when they were of average weight. Similarly to women, men are likely to exhibit depressed mood when they are dissatisfied with their bodies. However, unlike women whose priority often is to lose wight, men’s desire to gain larger muscles is greater than their interest in losing weight and the use of muscle-building techniques, including anabolic steroids and food supplements, is often emphasized. The ideal body for men, however, is not as clearly presented in American society as it is for women. Therefore, men do not experience as much pressure coming from media in terms of their conformance to cultural ideals like women do. However, men are systematically subjected to ideal media images of broad shoulders, well-developed upper body, flat stomach, and narrow hips. This muscular body image has been vividly demonstated and propagated in television commercials and magazine advertisements. Psychological literature demonstrates the existing associations between exposure to media images and women’s body dissatisfaction. The media has generated a clear image of the ideal female body type which is consistent among the various forms of media. Continuous exposure to television, magazines, music videos and other types of media results in greater body dissatisfaction. From the critical perspective, the more young women follow those beauty standards established in media, the greater chances that they will feel dissatisfied with their own appearances. Not only media impacts body image perception of women through through image processing, but it also directly endorses a thin ideal. In fact, weight loss strategies as well as increased muscles tone strategies among women are found most often as a result of perceived pressure from the media. Media also plays a crucial role in body image among men. It is important to understand that male body image standards emerged during the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, with their masterpieces of sculpture and paintings capturing and reinforcing early muscularity ideals, which have not been altered much for centuries. The ideal masculine body is depicted in many forms in mass media and has become embedded in American culture. American media increasingly depict men with a stereotype of the male body ideal. The various advertisements on billboards, magazines, and commercials typically depict physically appealing men. Males are presented by the media with very limited norms of what is to be considered an attractive body. The constant feeding of images and exposure of the masculine ideal is virtually unavoidable. Many companies that advertise contribute by utilizing the appearances of health and fitness and also create imagery of a successful man consisting of a muscular or lean build. Traditionally, a striving to reach a muscular ideal includes the elimination of body fat and the ‘sculpting’ of the body, in essence to achieve a desired appearance. Ironically, ideals of muscularity displayed in media can be a standard that most men cannot satisfy or this ideal can be simply misleading. For instance, one may believe that he is underweight and feel pressured to increase his body weight and become closer to the ideal. For the mpajority of men’s audience, this dissatisfaction with muscular architecture predicts dissatisfaction with life and low self-esteem. Simultaneously, larger framed men are rarely used in media presentations. However, ‘husky’ men in advertisements are typically displayed as the ‘before’ image for a medical procedure to help eliminate fat, depicting a ‘flawed’ body which is an indirect statement by advertisers that this type of body needs to be ‘fixed.’ Body image develops as a complex function of various influences, including biological, psychological, and social factors. As a result of these factors, individuals acquire basic body image attitudes that can serve to predispose how they perceive, interpret, and react to current life events. Body satisfaction usually impacts positively person’s perception of self-worth. Reciprocally, body disatisfaction can lead to depressed mood, self-esteem, and anxious symptoms diminishing one’s well-being. In this context it is important to understand that true happiness is the ability to tranform one’s mind, not body. Read More