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Appearance is the most obvious human characteristic. A person’s physical facade makes an important difference in how society treats him or her, and is therefore a major factor in the quality of life. Attractiveness has always played a crucial role in the way people behave and how they react to one another. “In time, sociologists and psychologists began to explore the social consequences of appearance” (Romm, 1). Our society seems to favour those individuals who are considered to be attractive. Despite the old saying, never judge a book by its cover, beauty certainly impacts ones sense of understanding and control over the world. “The vehicle through which we experience our surrounding environment, the body comes to symbolize the individual and her or his emerging self” (Woodforde, 1). Body image, specifically a negative or distorted one, can affect ones physical health, happiness, and choice of lifestyle. The body image thus shapes one’s behaviour, alters perceptions of the self and others, and defines our feeling of worth and value in the world.
The physical appearance of the female body in our culture represents far more than just a physical entity. “Men in our culture have a tendency to sexually objectify their partners” (Gimlin, 00). For heterosexual women, physical attractiveness has thus become essential for the ability to attract a man. “Identity and status for many adolescent girls of all social classes and ethic groups come through creating and appealing exterior and personality to attract male attention” (Hancock, 000). Physical attractiveness is thus an essential component of finding a mate. Being beautiful is seen as an advantage to women and gives them an edge over the competition. This can be correlated to Darwin’s theory “Survival of the fittest.” Since beauty is seen as an advantage, it acts as a basis of strength and gives acclaim to those who are viewed attractive.
In several staged experiments, psychologists have tested people’s honesty towards good looking and plain looking people. For example, in one study, seventy-five college men were shown photographs of women, some of whom were very attractive and others less so. They were asked to select the person they would be most likely to do the following help move furniture, loan money, donate blood, donate a kidney, swim one mile to rescue, save her from a burning building, and even jump on a terrorist hand grenade. “The men were most likely to volunteer for any of these altruistic and risky acts for a beautiful woman. The only thing they seemed reluctant to do for her was loan her money” (Etcoff, 1).
Good-looking people also have a greater social power than do homely ones. Moreover, “those who associate with a beautiful person can absorb and reflect some of his or her glory” (Romm, 1). The attractive person can also seem as a valuable commodity. People who select an attractive date, spouse or employee may feel that they may absorb the power the beautiful one wields, or they may see themselves as important and worthy enough of having a beauty consent to accompany them. “The person who does the selecting believes that he or she will assume the favourable attributes of the attractive one, and this connection will carry social advantage” (Romm, 1). Being attractive thus relates to a greater social dominance.
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There is also evidence proving that attractive people do tend to be more at ease socially, more confident and less likely to fear negative opinions than unattractive people. In a particular study, people were asked to participate in an interview with a psychologist. During the course of the interview the psychologist was interrupted by a student and excused herself. If the interviewee waited patiently, the interruption would last ten minutes. “Attractive people waited three minutes and twenty seconds on average before demanding attention. Less attractive people waited an average of nine minutes…There was no difference in how the two groups rated their own attractiveness. Attractive people merely felt entitled to better treatment ” (Etcoff, 1).
There is a good evolutionary reason why we place so much value on appearance. Looks have always been a reasonable guide to what is good and bad for us. When analyzing fruit, brown spots and wrinkled skin give us the indication that the fruit is bad. A bright green colour tells us that the fruit is not ripe. It is through these type of general observations that we have developed such an importance towards appearance. Instantly, we look towards external characteristics to gain a better understanding of the internal. We have heard the clich� of “not judging a book by its cover” but attractive books certainly attract more readers.
There is no doubt that being attractive results in a higher self-esteem and greater potential for success in the future. Attractive children are known to receive more attention from teachers. Positive school experiences are known to enhance a child’s self-esteem. This gives them an edge over their peers and it continues well into their future. “This notion extends throughout the preparatory years good grades and strong bonds with teachers are translated into acceptances at better schools and, later, may result in winning higher-paying jobs” (Romm, 1). This is obviously a basis for discrimination. Moreover, attractiveness is linked with the notion of higher social status in comparison to someone of lesser appeal. “Studies show that people assume that an attractive person comes from an upper social stratum and that a less appealing person does not” (Romm, 1).
Even being treated the way beautiful people are treated can cause some changes in behaviour. “Psychologists set up a study in which women and men talked on the phone for ten minutes. During this time the men were told to try to get to know the women. Each man had been given a Polaroid snapshot of the woman they were supposed to be talking with. In their mind’s eye, the phone companion was beautiful or ugly. In fact, all men were talking to the same woman” (Etcoff, 1). The really interesting part of the whole experiment was that the woman became more animated and confident in conversations with men who believed her to be beautiful.
It is to no surprise that naturally beautiful women obtain a form of power they never have to work for. On the other hand, “many women of average appearance are said to be ambitious; clambering up the ladder of success toward leading positions in business, medicine, law, politics or education. They are expected to, and would not feel completely confident in their workplace without at least trying to be attractive” (Hancock, 000). This is why the fashion and cosmetics industries have been booming since the 10s. Still, the woman of normal appearance secretly hates naturally beautiful women who seem to get to take the easy road. Simply put, attractive people are given better treatment in general. To illustrate this point, psychologists at the University of Rochester proposed that an attractive student would influence how others evaluated her work. To prove their point, they prepared two essays on the role of television in society. One essay was well written, while the other one was disorganised and simplistic. The researchers made thirty copies of each essay and attached pictures of the supposed authors to some of them. For each essay, ten copies had a picture of an attractive woman attached, ten had a picture of an unattractive woman attached, and ten had no picture attached. Sixty male undergraduates then rated the essays for creativity, style and general quality. They also speculated about the author’s intelligence, talent and sensitivity. Not surprisingly, the results favoured the attractive authors. “The well-written essays, ascribed to a writer of either good or poor looks, were rated high. However, the weaker essays were ranked high only if the author was assumed to be attractive” (Romm, 1). The study concluded that although ugliness can be overlooked if performance is impressive, when performance slips below par, attractiveness matters. “Perhaps because attractive people are expected to do well or are better liked, they more often are given the benefit of the doubt when performance is substandard” (Romm, 1).
Dating back to Plato, it has been the idea that exterior beauty is visible evidence of internal beauty. Throughout the Renaissance, people percieved beauty to be good. Baldassare Catiglione wrote that, “Beauty is a sacred thing, only rarely does evil dwell in a beautiful body, and so outward beauty is a true sign of inner goodness.” Ugliness, on the other hand, “was a sign of the bad, mad or dangerous” (Etcoff, 1). Deformities, ugliness and disease were seen to be a curse on the body and a wrath from God. To no surprise, those individuals with negative body images perceived themselves to be unattractive and unappealing. This causes these individuals to feel that they do not meet societal expectations of beauty, nor do they feel worthy of positive acceptance by themselves or others. “Women continue to face the challenge of proving to themselves and to others that they are more than the result of societys judgement of their physical assets and deficits, more than a sexual object” (Gimlin, 00).
One of societys faults is our tendency to judge the characteristics of beauty separately, as inner (character) and outer (looks). Susan Sontag wrote about the views of the Greeks in distinguishing a persons inside and outside. She explains, “the well-born young Athenians who gathered around Socrates found it quite paradoxical that their hero was so intelligent, so brave, so honourable, so seductive, and so ugly” (Luciano, 001). The Greeks view of Socrates directly relates to our own view of women. We are so set on certain standards of inner and outer beauty, we become surprised when a woman is actually beautiful and intelligent. Sontag explains that it was Socrates intention to appear ugly so he could teach his good-looking disciples how full of paradoxes life really was. This lesson must still continue to be taught today. Beauty can appear in any normal, unattractive, or intelligent person.
As women remain in a cycle of imperfection, always searching for methods of correction, society continues to place more pressures on them. Through the media outlets, we have fallen into the trap of manipulating the human form. Artists paint pictures that leave out flaws. Photographs are airbrushed to eliminate what is undesirable to the eye. Body doubles are used in films. “Specialty models,” which center on perfect body parts, model only those parts, for they are not perfect for modeling the rest of their bodies. When we see any sort of imperfection on the human body we instantly criticize, wishing to fix what is “wrong.” This results in the feeling of losing control, of constantly attempting and failing to achieve an impossible standard.
Advertisers often emphasize sexuality and the importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products, but researchers are concerned that this places incredible pressure on women to focus on their appearance. “Advertising images have also been recently accused of setting unrealistic ideals for women as they risk their health to achieve the media standard” (Woznicki, 000). “Only % of commercials have a direct statement about beauty, but many more implicitly emphasize the importance of beauty - particularly those that target women and girls” (Holzgang, 000). This constant exposure to “ideal beauty” advertisements may influence women to become self-conscious about their bodies and to obsess over their physical appearance as a measure of their worth. Some researchers believe that advertisers purposely normalize unrealistically thin bodies, in order to create an unattainable desire that can drive product consumption. Paul Hamburg, an assistant professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School writes “By reproducing ideals that are absurdly out of line with what real bodies really do look like, the media perpetuates a market for frustration and disappointment. Its customers will never disappear” (Holzgang, 000). Through a constant bombardment of media images and unrealistic goals of achieving beauty, it is no surprise that women drive to look beautiful. Attractiveness is seen as a cultural norm and can have many positive effects for an individual that is considered beautiful.
Beauty is an advantage in all realms of life. It is important to realize the magnitude of this advantage. Social psychologists have found that attractiveness has an impact in many areas, including business choices, romance, education, to name a few. Beauty has the power to imply qualities such as goodness, sanity, and success that a person may not otherwise possess. There is a defenite relationship between our outer appearance, the development of our social traits, and an observers response. Thus, the body image shapes one’s behaviour, alters perceptions of the self and others, and defines our feeling of worth and value in the world. The social benefits of attractiveness have created a bias to those who are deemed “beautiful” throughout history. Beauty assists in the selection of a mate, a higher self-esteem, superior education thus leading to a better occupation, a social dominance, and a greater chance at opportunity in general. Beauty is said to be “skin deep,” however, in today’s society, it is a great factor in the quality of life.
Woodforde, John. The History of Vanity. United Kingdom Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1.
Romm, Sharon. The Changing Face of Beauty. St. Louis, Missouri Mosby-Year Book, Inc., 1.
Hancock, Hughes, Jagger, Paterson, Russell, Tulle-Winton and Tyler. The Body, Culture and Society. Philadelphia Open University Press, 000.
Luciano, Lynne. Looking Good Male Body Image in Modern America. New York Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 001.
Gimlin, Debra L. Body Work Beauty and Self Image in American Culture. California University of California Press, Ltd., 00.
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