A Journal Article Summary and Analysis of a Sociology Article/Study - Essay Example

In brief, the author's set out to demonstrate or prove whether non-physical “cues” can have any influence on the decision men make in regard to what they find attractive – that is, can it be said that non-physical factors effect the way we perceive or evaluate physical attractiveness. In turn, this analysis will turn to providing an overview of whether the author's 'prove' what they set out to, and it will be argued in the affirmative on this point. Finally, a critique and personal interpretation of the significance or impact of the research will be given.

Particular attention will be made in this latter section toward discerning what areas of the research could be improved, and what areas are really worth emphasizing in a positive sense. The author’s hypothesis, agenda, and/or research question. Body image is an important social phenomenon because there are important medical implications or outcomes that are directly related to it. One of the more troubling health problems that particularly effects young women, is body dis morphia which is basically a 'false perception' of one's own body image.

Women or girls who become bulimic or anorexic, very often do so to obtain an 'ideal' image of thinness. Both conditions, entail extreme and risky behaviour's based on the perception that they are not thin enough, or that being in a certain weight category is unattractive. These perceptions are unquestionably shaped through media and culture, and arguably, media and culture are dominated by an agenda determined by what 'men' actually perceive as ideal. The article being examined in this analysis, comes out of this very context.

The research which is outlined in this article, focus' on male perceptions of female body image or body types. It sets out to prove or disprove, whether or not there are any non-physical qualities or characteristics that shape how men view women. The method the study is arguably pretty straight forward. Over 2,000 men were chosen, and broken down into 11 different groups [Swami, et. al., 631]. These groups were in turn divided into subsets of three groups. One group of men were shown images of women with positive accompanying information about them, one group with negative information about the photographs of women, and finally, there was a “control group” [Swami, et. al., 631] who were provided no information whatsoever about the women in the photographs.

The photograph's themselves were compiled to reflect different body image types, and particular attention was paid toward selecting different groups of women based on weight categories. Each male was exposed to 10 different gray scale photographic images of “real women in front-view” [Swami, et. al., 632]. Each woman or individual represented in the image was then given a personality trait, except for those given to the control group, and the men in the research had to provide a numerical evaluation of each of the ten images.

The five different personality traits that the women in the photographs had were: “extroverted”, “agreeableness”, “conscientiousness”, “emotional stability” and finally, “open to experience” [Swami, et. al., 635]. With respect to these five traits, the women described were either on the 'positive' or the 'negative' side of this quality. A women was described as either having these or some of these traits or, lacking them. Hence, the 'positive' and 'negative' that are being evaluated in the two groups