In today’s society, media plays a major role in molding the public perception of what is pleasant and what is attractive. With the advancement of photo enhancement technologies, the majority of images found in magazines, advertisements, and other print media is altered to represent what is quite assuredly an unachievable definition of beauty (Brown, 2015, p. 88). Gone are the days of blemishes, normal colored eyes, imperfect teeth, splotchy skin, loose hairs, and even average proportioned bodies; with a few mouse clicks, everything is changed from natural to manipulated, and traditional beauty as it was known is lost. Unfortunately, with all this “photoshopping,” society has become lulled into accepting this false representation of beauty,
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The health and beauty market is bustling with business because women want to look their best, and it would appear that many are willing to take drastic measures to look a certain way. Sadly, this leads to plastic surgeries, cosmetic treatments, eating disorders, and self-confidence problems. T. Cash, D. Cash, and J. Butters conducted a study to determine whether viewing attractive photos caused participants to rank themselves lower in terms of attractiveness (1983, p. 351). Interestingly, they discovered that there was no difference among women’s self-ratings of attractiveness when they were exposed to images of models; however, when they were exposed to images of attractive peers, they would actually rank themselves lower (Cash et al., 1983, 354–356). This difference is attributed to the idea that the women viewed the models as professionals and the attractive women as peers; this differentiation was made by one being clearly from an advertisement and the other being just a photograph of an individual (Cash et al., 1983, 353–354). The results are important because it indicates that there is a clear contrast effect resulting from a standard of beauty; thus, it is important to identify whether these standards have been manipulated from exposure to unnatural influences. This contributes to the belief that society is more focused on the physical attributes rather than the emotional and intellectual components of a
The health and beauty market is bustling with business because women want to look their best, and it would appear that many are willing to take drastic measures to look a certain way. Sadly, this leads to plastic surgeries, cosmetic treatments, eating disorders, and self-confidence problems. T. Cash, D. Cash, and J. Butters conducted a study to determine whether viewing attractive photos caused participants to rank themselves lower in terms of attractiveness (1983, p. 351). Interestingly, they discovered that there was no difference among women’s self-ratings of attractiveness when they were exposed to images of models; however, when they were exposed to images of attractive peers, they would actually rank themselves lower (Cash et al., 1983, 354–356). This difference is attributed to the idea that the women viewed the models as professionals and the attractive women as peers; this differentiation was made by one being clearly from an advertisement and the other being just a photograph of an individual (Cash et al., 1983, 353–354). The results are important because it indicates that there is a clear contrast effect resulting from a standard of beauty; thus, it is important to identify whether these standards have been manipulated from exposure to unnatural influences. This contributes to the belief that society is more focused on the physical attributes rather than the emotional and intellectual components of a