The Cosmetic Surgery Industry Is No Different

Over the years there have been several studies on the effects the media has on shaping an individual’s body image. A long with these studies came scientific social theories; some of these theories include the social comparison theory, self-schema theory, self-discrepancy theory. The social comparison was developed in the 1950’s by Leon Festinger. This theory states that that we determine our own social and personal worth based on how we stack up against others. Individuals will compare themselves to others as a way to measure success. In the Self-schema

The social comparison theory offers some level of explanation for how media images actually come to impact the way women feel about their bodies. It examines how individuals evaluate themselves in relation to peers, groups, and/or social categories (Milkie, 1999). The main argument is that people compare themselves on many different dimensions with other individuals who are similar to them. Depending on the target of comparison, a person will usually judge themselves as being either or better or worse on some dimension. An upward comparison occurs when an individual compares himself or herself to someone who fares better than they do on a particular construct. In contrast, downward comparisons involve a person comparing himself or herself to

Kover, A. (2009, April 30). Effects of the Media on Body Image. Retrieved March 21, 2017, from

From the multicultural body image norms, which suggests women overall are much more concerned with body idealism and are earlier adopters of slim ideals, women are expected to also express a great fat stigma. Females exposed to media images reflect on current societally standards of slenderness and fell a greater mood and have a better body image. Females who viewed a neutral, or not so slender image for the adverse outcomes of such media exposures.

     The purpose of this study is to further explore and examine the influences of mass media on male’s and female’s personal body image satisfaction and the awareness and internalization of societal pressures regarding appearance. For a number years evidence surrounding the insecurities that women have towards their own bodies has been widely published. More recently, it has been suggested that men are falling victim to media and

Plastic surgery is one of the most controversial topic today. But the real question is, what is the reason? Beauty is one of the main things America celebrates, and reality tv is slaving our minds into believing if you’re not pretty, you will not make it big, whether in the television industry or not. A study published by APF found that attractive real estate agents were able to sell homes at a higher price than marketers that were not attractive. Other companies have explored the matter, and they have found beautiful people tend to make money and get promotions more often. Jobs like modeling have destroyed most people’s self-confidence. When people began to complain about people being more beautiful than others, we came up with a solution:

The results make things perfectly clear: the media needs to stop promoting unrealistic body images. A newsletter writer named McGiffert, conducted an interview and found that many people say “they may not see themselves as they really are." They often feel self-conscious, awkward or shameful. A negative body image can cause depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, shame, trouble concentrating, taking risks with sexual health, anti-social behaviors, and mental health problems such as anorexia, bulimia.” (Lockwood). Furthermore, the ideal image can affect the way people think, their emotions and the way they perceive themselves in their daily lives. The impact of images that the media uses just blur the boundaries between an ideal image and reality. Therefore, the ‘ideal’ images that are represented in the media are not only unreal, but also very misleading to our

Body image has become a primary focus for individuals and in some instances is resulting into an obsession, especially in women. Media instills in men and women an ideal body standard causing unrealistic expectations, some resulting to the extremes to obtain the perfect body that is being perceived in order to conform. More and more people are aspiring to become media’s “ideal body image” to be considered attractive. The American media is becoming detrimental to individuals as it is negatively influencing the perception people have of themselves and their bodies.

Negative body image has become a pandemic which has spread to nearly every country. This affliction knows no boundaries, limitations, or prejudices. Cases of this issue can be found in all age groups, socioeconomic levels, races, ethnicities, and genders. The causes of this affliction can be pinpointed to the mass media, familial pressures, and the ever changing standards of beauty.

In the article “I Know You are not Real’: Salience of Photo Retouching Reduces the Negative Effects of Media Exposure Via Internalization” by Chiara Rollero, states, “retouched images and not retouched images play a similar role in fostering internalization of beauty ideals” (199). Rollero then continued to emphasize “the current study confirms the key role played by internalization as mediator: media convey beauty ideals, but is it the internalization of these messages that guides the perception of one’s body and worth” (200). Overall, Rollero’s study argues that it is not necessarily the media’s fault women have low self-esteem issues, but more so how women compare themselves to other women. They compare their body to other women’s and base their level of beauty off of someone physically different from themselves. In another article, “Stop Blaming Media for Our Body Image Issues” the author then goes on to endorse the claim that media is not solely to blame by stating “can we continue to blame the media for every negative thought girls have about themselves? Should we not instead be looking to and encouraging parents, teachers, community leaders, clubs and curriculums to stand in the gap and provide the

This essay investigates the impacts in which the way body image is presented in the media and its effects to answer the following research question:

The media representations of the female body images lead to the psychological problems of the young generation. Body image can be defined as two aspects of cognition and behaviors. The cognition of body image can capture social beliefs or standards in the media and internalize of it as a stereotype of the unattainable physical appearance. Because perception control behaviors, the cognition of the body image in the media lead to the comparison with others’ body images, and the stressful situation results in abnormal behaviors such as eating disorder, depression, and low self-esteem. Leahey emphasizes, “more than 80% of comparison made by women…including peers and models… [It] generally result[s] in negative outcomes, such as body dissatisfaction” (qtd. in Fitzsimmones 797). Indeed, the

Aims and objectives: The aim of this research proposal is to bridge the relationship between media-influenced body image and self-esteem. Then, the impact of discrepancies between actual and ideal selves, as well as actual and ought selves of media-influenced body image on

In a society so consumed by the ideology of beauty, it makes sense as to why so many women these days undergo cosmetic surgery. The definition of beauty has long been obstructed and changed. In the past, if you look at the woman, you will see they are curvy, during this era being thin meant you were poor where as a beautiful and wealthy woman would be plump because she could afford fine dining. As society has changed, being slender has become the new trend, creating the idea that in order to be truly beautiful one must be thin. The movie stars in Hollywood, although most people realize the beautifying changes that are made to the pictures, this idea of 'beauty ' and 'desire ' still lingers in the mind of whoever comes across it. Our society is bombarded with several different ideologies of beauty but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The beauty standards that have been set should not be what are shaping people around the world and influencing them to go through with plastic surgery. The use of plastic surgery has changed from a medical procedure used to reconstruct the wounded or people with birth defects to reconstructing something people do not like about themselves. Plastic surgery was used during WWI in 1910 and after the war, skin grafting grew. The first training program in the United States was in 1924 thanks to Dr. John Davis. In 1950-1959, plastic surgery was used broadly to repair cleft pallet. It wasn’t until about

Plastic Surgery has become a worldwide epidemic in today’s world. The number of plastic surgeries continues to increase since 2010. In today’s day and age, plastic surgery is one of the most popular and requested procedures. Females are opting to have plastic surgery because they dislike their body image. Society has impacted many people by brain washing them to believe that a person’s body has to be perfect. In order for one to be considered beautiful, television and media influence people’s perceptions of beauty.