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Health Psychology

Health Psychology. Lecture 10 Physical Attractiveness and Body Image. Lecture 8 - Outline. Part 1 Importance of Physical Beauty Defining Beauty Biological Basis of Beauty Part 2 Body Image (definition, measurement epidemiology) Health implications (psychopathology, sub-clinical) Part 3

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Health Psychology

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  1. Health Psychology Lecture 10 Physical Attractiveness and Body Image

  2. Lecture 8 - Outline • Part 1 • Importance of Physical Beauty • Defining Beauty • Biological Basis of Beauty • Part 2 • Body Image (definition, measurement epidemiology) • Health implications (psychopathology, sub-clinical) • Part 3 • Men’s body image (steroid abuse)

  3. Schwartz (1992)

  4. Question Is physical beauty important? Answer: Not really Answer (academia): NO!! “Many intellectuals would have us believe that beauty is inconsequential … Since it explains nothing, solves nothing, and teaches us nothing, it should not have a place in intellectual discourse” (Etcoff, 1999)

  5. Preferential Treatment “My fourth Cosmetic Discovery occurred at 18 … I awoke to a realization that would take a long time to play out, but in essence Cosmetic Discovery #4 was this: if you’re a young, blue-ribbon egg-bearer, there’s nothing you can’t get away with. Nobody who hasn’t been there has any idea, and even those who have won’t really understand until after the stampede [of sperm-bearers] has passed because there’s so much dust in the air” (supermodel Lauren Hutton, 1995)

  6. Behavioral Evidence • “What is beautiful is good” • Advantages afforded to the physically attractive • Physical attractiveness stereotype • Preferential treatment

  7. Biological Basis of Beauty • “beauty is in the eye of the beholder?” • Evolutionary psychology • Humans are driven to select mates who will give them the greatest likelihood of healthy, abundant offspring (Buss, 1989) • Healthy mates produce healthy offspring • Physical beauty is a health certification

  8. Pathogen-Resistance Theory • beauty is a physiologic burden that only a strong body can support

  9. An example (secondary sex characteristics) • Facial attractiveness • Women - smallness in lower face is attractive • Men - largeness in lower face is attractive • Hormones • Women - estrogen caps growth of lower face during puberty • Men - testosterone  growth of lower face during puberty • Sex hormones are immunosupressors • only immunocompetent individuals can afford the expression of secondary sex characteristics

  10. David Buss (1989) • Mate selection • Cross-cultural research (33 countries) • Consistently across samples: • Men preferred younger mates • Strong women preferred older mates • Men placed stronger value of physical attractiveness than women • Women placed stronger value on “good financial prospect” than men • Importance of attractiveness correlated positively with the prevalence of parasitic disease across societies.

  11. Body Image “the psychological experience of one’s own body” • Body image is multifaceted… • Perceptual • Cognitive • Affective • Behavioral

  12. Body Image Measurement “the psychological experience of one’s own body” • Body image measurement is multifaceted… • Perceptual (body size estimation) • Cognitive (attainability, perceived control) • Affective (body dissatisfaction) • Behavioral (grooming, checking, etc)

  13. Figure Rating Scales Body dissatisfaction = discrepancy between actual and ideal.

  14. Body-Self Relations Questionnaire Lower scores = higher body dissatisfaction My body is sexually appealing I like my looks just the way they are Most people would consider me good looking I like the way I look without my clothes I dislike my physique* I’m physically unattractive* (*reverse code)

  15. Physical Appearance Trait Anxiety Scale Higher scores = higher body dissatisfaction In general, I feel anxious, nervous or tense about: The extent to which I look overweight My ears My thighs My lips My buttocks My wrists My hips My hands My stomach My forehead My legs My neck My waist My chin My muscle tone My feet (1 = never, 2 = seldom, 3 = sometimes, 4 = often, 5 = always)

  16. Epidemiology How prevalent is a negative body image? Overall Appearance Dissatisfaction 1972 1985 1996 Women 23% 38% 56% Men 15% 34% 43% Garner (1997)

  17. Epidemiology How prevalent is a negative body image? Mid-Torso Dissatisfaction 1972 1985 1996 Women 50% 57% 71% Men 36% 50% 63% Garner (1997)

  18. Epidemiology How prevalent is a negative body image? Lower-Torso Dissatisfaction 1972 1985 1996 Women 49% 50% 61% Men 12% 21% 29% Garner (1997)

  19. Epidemiology How prevalent is a negative body image? Upper-Torso Dissatisfaction 1972 1985 1996 Women 27% 32% 34% Men 18% 28% 38% Garner (1997)

  20. Consequences? Psychopathology • Body Dysmorphic Disorder • Preoccupation with an imagined defect in appearance; causes distress/impaired functioning • Eating Disorders • Anorexia Nervosa • Bulimia Nervosa • Binge-Eating Disorder

  21. Consequences? Sub-Clinical • Social relations • Sexual functioning • Starting Smoking • Low self-esteem, depressive symptoms • Eating behaviors (dieting, binging, purging) • Avoidance of exercise • Learning and cognition • Cosmetic surgery

  22. Risk Factors - Body Dissatisfaction • Biological • BMI • Physical Attractiveness • Psychological • Appearance investment (importance) • Internalization of societal ideals • Social • Demographics (gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality) • Sociocultural influences (family, peers, mass media) • Cultural Ideals of Attractiveness (e.g., Tonga)

  23. Media and girls’ body image • Evidence from 5 sources: • Content Analyses of Media Ideals • thin-ideal is getting thinner • Self-report • Correlational Studies (no longitudinal yet) • television exposure • emulate media personalities / internalization • Cross-Cultural Studies • Experimental Studies • Meta-Analysis of 25 studies (Groez et al., 2002) • ‘small but consistent’ negative effect • certain individuals particularly vulnerable

  24. Media and boys’ body image • Content Analyses (last 20 years) • men more often topless in magazines (Pope et al., 2001) • Playgirls centrefolds increasingly muscular • action toys increasingly muscular (Pope et al., 1999) • But, Nivea for Men…“Dare to Care” • Correlational Studies • exposure to entertainment TV (Anderson et al., 2001) • emulate media personalities (Field et al., 2001) • internalization of muscular ideal (Smolak et al., 2001) • Experimental Studies • ...

  25. Men’s Body Image “Unlike women, men labor under a social taboo against expressing such feelings. Real men aren’t supposed to whine about their looks; their not even supposed to worry about such things.” (Pope et al., 2000)

  26. Male Body Image • Sources of dissatisfaction • Muscle • Receding hair • Fat (pot belly, love handles) • Small penis • Or some other perceived deficiency

  27. Male Body Image • Muscle Dysmorphia (BDD) • Sometimes called reverse anorexia • People with muscle dysmorphia are ashamed of looking too small when they’re actually big • Need to exercise every day, feelings of being too fat, dislike of their bodies, persist in exercising despite pain and injury

  28. Male Body Image Body dissatisfaction is increasingly common in men Two recent societal changes: • Threatened masculinity • Images of the “roided” body have infiltrated media images and societal ideals (Pope et al., 2000)

  29. Anabolic Steroids • Family of drugs that contain the male hormone testosterone • Illegal unless prescribed, but widely available on black market • Taken orally or by injection • Allow user to gain muscle mass, far beyond that attainable without

  30. Anabolic Steroids Medical hazards - increased risk of: • Heart disease • Stroke • Prostate cancer • Leads to use of other drugs (become steroid dependant) • pain killers to deal with aches and pains of lifting • morphine and heroin.

  31. Anabolic Steroids Psychological effects • Mood swings • Irritability • Short tempered, over react to situations, sudden bursts of aggression (roid rage) • Psychotic delusions (plotting to harm) • Personality changes (cockiness) • Excess confidence, grandiose beliefs

  32. Anabolic Steroids • What can be done? • Education • Interdiction (law enforcement) • Psychiatric treatment for users • Remove secrecy (steroid users are cheats)

  33. Body Image - Treatment and Prevention • What can be done? • Change the body • Weight loss • Physical exercise • Cosmetic surgery • Change the body image • CBT • Psychopharmacology • Psychoeducation

  34. Treatment and Prevention • What can be done? • Prevention - ecological and activism approaches

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