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The impact of the media on self image
How media affects self image
How media affects self image
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“Sensory-Perceptual Development” is a topic I believe everyone should be informed off. From previous assignments I have stated how interested and devoted I was to doing more research on this topic and this assignment allowed me to pursue that. Our perception of our body and or the bodies’ of others changes over time and there is often a pattern associated with this from birth. For this assignment I have taken the definition of “Body Awareness” literally and related it to the everyday life and concerns of a young adult. An article, published on “The Conversation” composed by Kevin Brooks on August 7th, 2016, explains the psychology behind a woman’s “normative discontent” with her body. As you may be aware, many young adults especially ladies judge their bodies based on the environment they are in or aspire to be a part of. According to this article, an individual’s perception of their body can change within two (2) minutes based on their environment whether they think that the “normal” body size is “heavier” or even “skinny.” This article further explains that our perception of objects and or bodies is altered due to “prolonged viewing of certain stimuli.” Also, when young adults/ladies look at popular television airings and see women who are deemed beautiful and perfect, we often attract to this “stimulus” and transfer that image to our personal bodies. Sometimes, we find things that a wrong with our bodies that are not even …show more content…
In accordance, studies show that our “Perception of the Body” and our external influences contribute to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. We are so convinced that unless our bodies look exactly like the model on television we are not enough or we are not
Societal constructs of bodily perfection have a massive influence on both genders and on all ages. If you look at any magazine, you will see women constantly being compared to each other, whether it is in the “who wore it better” section or in the “do’s and don’ts” part of the magazine, comparing body images and overall appearances. All parts of the media that encompasses our daily lives are especially dangerous for young and impressionable teens because they see people being torn down for trying to express themselves, and are thus taught to not only don’t look like “don’ts”, but also look like the “do’s”. This is dangerous in that women in the magazine set very high standards that teens want to emulate, no matter the cost to themselves or their health. Celebrities have the benefit of media to make them appear perfect: Photoshop and makeup artists conceal the imperfections that are often too apparent to the naked eye. Viewing celebrities as exhibiting the ideal look or as idols will, in most cases, only damage the confidence of both young teens, and adults, and warp the reality of what true “beauty” really is. It makes teens never feel truly content with themselves because they will be aiming for an ideal that is physically impossible to attain and one that doesn’t exist in the real
The complications that accompany body image have long been an issue in society. Body image is the sense of how an individual views his or her own body as compared to others in society, or what is considered to be the ideal body image. There are many different factors that effect ones body image, but a major influence is the media. The media has long been associated with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder where an individual participates in self-starvation, and bulimia is an eating disorder where an individual will eat as much as he or she wishes and then purges the previously eaten food. These are two destructive eating disorders that are associated with a negative body image. This comes to question, does media have an influence on creating a negative body image, which may inherently lead to eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia? Anorexia nervosa and bulimia affect various age groups but is extremely common in adolescence and emerging adulthood. During this stage in an individual’s lifespan there is a lot going on with ones psychological development as well as body. How an adolescent views his or her body image be highly impacted by how the media portrays what the ideal body image is. According to Berger (2015), “as might be expected from a developmental perspective, healthy eating begins with childhood habits and family routines” (p.415). If proper eating habits are not implemented negative body image and eating disorders that are associated with media becomes further predominant in adolescence and emerging adulthood.
With this being said, body image perception is consistently an interesting topic to health psychologists. This study was an attempt to further explore the estimation of perception. The results support the hypothesis that an individual underestimates their body image specifically in the perception condition. However, there needs to be more accurate research to gain a precise understanding of anorexia nervosa and how they view themselves.
Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are two common eating disorders that seem to have evolved from societal pressures to be thin. The short video, “Dying to be thin and the two articles, Serpell 1999 Anorexia Nervosa and Serpell 2002 Bulimia Nervosa illustrate common themes that manifest from the disorder. These common themes have positive and negative reinforcers that led me to believe that the disorder has environmental, psychological and biological implication that impacts the individual core beliefs. I could also see that there is more to the disorder than just the desire to be thin.
Researchers and doctors find eating disorders to be very complicated to figure out due to the many different factors leading to eating disorders. The majority of these issues derive from media images portraying the “perfect” bodies bringing people to believe that they need to change their eating habits to become that “perfect” image. On average, people waste around 31 hours a week on the internet and spend anywhere from two to four hours a day looking up cosmetic surgery procedures and investigating dietary and weight loss plans in an attempt to get that model worthy body (The Telegraph). Men and women should be proud of whom they are and not be envious of others so much as to want to change their entire appearance; God made us all perfect through his eyes; why would anyone want to change that uniqueness about them?
If one does not fit this ideal, then they are considered unappealing. Unfortunately, there is nothing one can do to truly change their body image other than think happier thoughts, obtain plastic surgery, or go to the gym to make themselves feel and potentially look better. Popular media is making it extremely difficult for one to maintain a positive body image. They have created the perfect human image that is almost unattainable to reach. The idea of a teenager’s body image is being destroyed by the standards of magazines, television shows, and society as a whole, making it to where it will never recover again. To better understand the effect popular media has on one’s body image, viewing psychology, medicine and health sciences, and cultural and ethnic studies will give a better understanding on the
Eating disorders are described as an illness involving eating habits that are irregular and an extreme concern with body image or weight. Eating disorders tend to appear during teenage years, but can develop at any age. Although more common in women, eating disorders can affect any age, gender or race. In the United States, over 20 million women and 10 million men are personally affected by eating disorders. There are many different causes of eating disorders such as low self esteem, societal pressures, sexual abuse and the victims perception of food. Eating disorders are unique to the sufferer and often, their perception of themselves is so skewed, they may not be aware they have an eating disorder. Media, for quite some time now, has played a significant part in eating disorders. Magazines with headlines ‘Summer Body’, or ‘Drop LB’s Fast!’ attract the attention of girls who may be insecure with themselves. Television productions such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show or American’s Next Top Model, show airbrushed and photoshopped women who have body types that may be unachievable. Those who are suffering from eating disorders can suffer dangerous consequences, and it is important to seek help.
The overwhelming idea of thinness is probably the most predominant and pressuring standard. Tiggeman, Marika writes, “This is not surprising when current societal standards for beauty inordinately emphasize the desirability of thinness, an ideal accepted by most women but impossible for many to achieve.” (1) In another study it is noted that unhealthy attitudes are the norm in term of female body image, “Widespread body dissatisfaction among women and girls, particularly with body shape and weight has been well documented in many studies, so much so that weight has been aptly described as ‘a normative discontent’”. (79) Particularly in adolescent and prepubescent girls are the effects of poor self-image jarring, as the increased level of dis...
Men and women are often concerned about their outer appearance because media portrays a certain image of what “ideal beauty” should be. If women do not have a flat stomach or toned thighs, they are told that their body is not good enough. If men do not have washboard abs, big biceps, or rock-hard pecks, they are told they are not fit enough. When women think they are too big, they develop eating disorders. When men do not think they are fit enough, they turn to steroids or body stimulants. The media’s view of “ideal beauty” is unrealistic. The broadcasting of unrealistic body standards has been linked to eating disorders among both men and women. Men and women strive for that “perfect body” no matter the risk. Media is the biggest source of
Researchers say that children start to feel disapproval with their bodies at age five. At that point children will eat less, or try to work out. The problem with this is that five year olds need to gain weight to grow, and with body image in mind they can not grow right. When children start believing the way they look isn’t good enough, they can turn to things like starvation, Bulimia, and Anorexia. Anorexia Nervosa is an emotional disorder caused by an obsessive desire to lose weight and look better. The effects of Anorexia Nervosa can be critical and can even cause infertility, brain damage, and death. America’s body image expectations are
Certain family cultural dynamics and poor nutritional education can be a major factor in aiding in or causing the progress of eating disorders. Research has shown that socio-cultural influences play a prominent role in the progression of many eating disorders. There are many people who internalize and strive for the western idea of beauty. Those internalized ideas stim from the many images that are communicated through magazines, television and advertisement which gives the one viewing it a false idea of what is the perfect body image which doesn’t exist.
However, it is evident that the media usually presents and sexualizes women who are “young, fit and beautiful” hence probably creating self esteem issues more than confidence especially in younger women who are religious towards the media’s expectations. This stereotype of being a desired body shape only forces women to meet unattainable perfect physical standards (Gill 2015). The media bombards the youth with gender representations and the types of bodies that are deemed to be attractive. Many teenagers all around the world are desperate to lose weight to be “beautiful”.
Body image problems are some big things we see in adults and young kids after the beauty pageant world. Kids can care too much what they look like because they were always judged on what they looked looked like. This can also lead to self-identity
Teenagers constantly worry about their body image. Magazines, newspapers, and television don’t exactly help to boost their confidence. The portrayal of stick thin woman and body building men forces teens to believe they need to achieve that “perfect” body and look. The biggest issue of these images being broadcasted to teens is the effects that the images have on them. Teenagers who obsess over their body image can experience stress due to trying to impress others, develop an eating disorder, and neglect, and even jeopardize, important aspects of their lives when they focus too much on their body image.
Recent studies have shown that eating disorders, termed EDs, are gradually taking on a great significance in the modern world. It would perhaps be best to determine the causes of EDs in general and then find out the type of ED they lead to consequently. Several reasons have been forward as causes of EDs, and these can be broadly classified into biological, social, environmental and psychological. On the biological level, there is perhaps heredity and as far as the environmental issues are concerned, family inadequacy and peer pressure to conform to a certain image. This may in turn be related to the social aspect, mainly with popular figures who are viewed as the ‘role models’ by adolescents, leading to dissatisfaction with the physical appearance. Environmental issues would include aspects such as depression due to family problems, and pressure from peers as far as appearance is concerned.