Internalized Beauty Ideals and Sociocultural Pressures Shape How Young Women and Men Perceive Body Attractiveness

SPERANZA, TRINIDAD B.; IVONNIA FLORES BRAVO; SOFÍA ABREVAYA; RAMENZONI, VERÓNICA C.

Toronto

Encuentro; Cogsci 2022; 2022

Cognitive Science Society

This study explored how sociocultural pressures and internalizedbeautyideals play a role in how women and men perceive the attractiveness of different body types of the same and opposite gender.Results showed that when judging the attractiveness of bodies of the same gender, internalized beautyideals have different effects on women and men.Women’s judgments of the attractiveness of female bodies are predicted by thepressure exerted byathinbeauty ideal, whilemen’s judgments of the attractiveness of male bodies are predicted instead by a muscularbeauty ideal. Attractiveness judgments for bodies of the opposite genderare influenced by the pressure to be thin and the perceived influence of significant others. Sociocultural pressuresalso have a stronger effect on womenthan men. These findings offer an initial window into thedistinctfactors that shape body image construction for the digital generationof women and men.