New research provides evidence that the internalization of cultural ideals influences judgments of physical attractiveness. The findings, published in Frontiers in Psychology, indicate that people tend to view toned and lean male and female bodies as ideal, but this can shift dramatically based on the degree of acceptance of athletic pressures and ideals.
“The Western cultural milieu is filled with images and media messages to suggest that thin is beautiful, and more recently that slim and muscular is beautiful,” said study author Martin Tovée, a professor at Northumbria University
“Decades of body image research has shown that internalizing these messages, and comparing oneself against them, can lead to dissatisfaction with one’s own body, and that under certain circumstances this can lead further to the emergence of disordered eating behaviour. Tacitly, this position assumes that the internalized ideal body representation is the same across different individuals, reflecting what is ‘out there.’ In this study we tested this assumption by carrying out a study which allowed us to visualize directly each individual’s ideal body shape.”
The study included 134 White women and 134 White men who were over the age of 18, understood written English, and were not currently or previously diagnosed with an eating disorder.
In the first study, the participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of 3D computer-generated bodies that varied in their level of muscle and body fat. In the second study, the participants were allowed to independently manipulate the level of muscle and fat on the 3D models to create the most attractive body. By pressing computer keys, they could reduce or increase body fat by 5.5 kg increments to a maximum of 55 kg. Similarly, the participants could also reduce or increase muscle mass by 7.5 kg increments to a maximum of 75 kg.
“This may be the first study to use 3D images of men and women as stimuli which are correctly calibrated for both skeletal muscle mass and total body fat,” Tovée explained. “This was possible owing to a prior study in which we obtained reasonably large samples of men and women in whom we measured both their body composition as well as their 3D body shape, with a high-resolution scanner.”
“We then developed statistical models which allowed us to map 3D body shape on to body composition. With these models, we can then reverse the problem and dial up the body shape of a man or woman appropriate for a given combination of skeletal muscle mass and body fat, both measured in kilograms.”
The researchers found that the most attractive female bodies were relatively low to average in body fat and moderately muscular, while the most attractive male bodies had similar levels of body fat but were very high in muscularity. But there was a large amount of variance.
“We assumed that asking people to identify the most attractive body in a set of images is equivalent to them matching their own internal represent of the ideal body in Western culture,” Tovée told PsyPost. “What we found was that the body composition of their own representation of the cultural ideal varied considerably in skeletal muscle mass and body fat.”
The participants also completed the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ), a validated assessment used to assess the internalization of appearance ideals and appearance-related pressures.
“What surprised us is the size of the difference in body composition between ideals with the lowest and highest SATAQ scores,” Tovée said.
The more that participants’ internalized athletic ideals, the more their ideal body fat decreased and their ideal muscle mass increased. Those with a high SATAQ score strongly agreed with statements such as “I compare my body to that of people in ‘good shape'” and “I try to look like sports athletes.”
The findings indicate that “one size does not fit all,” Tovée told PsyPost. “Specifically, those individuals who pay little attention to what is in the media – i.e. they internalize very little about what is ‘out there’ – had an ideal body representation that was very close to the population average for size and shape.”
“Only those who pay a lot of attention to what is ‘out there’ had an ideal body representation that was very slim and muscular, consistent with fitspiration images prevalent on social media. We believe that this is a positive outcome, given the huge concerns that exist about what is represented in the media. Only those who pay above average attention to what the media promulgates are at risk of developing an arguably unhealthy representation of a body ideal.”
Interestingly, the researchers observed “considerable agreement between the genders over what, on average, constitutes an attractive body.” However, there were some small differences. Men tended to prefer female bodies that had slightly more muscle and adipose compared to female raters. Women, on the other hand, tended to prefer male bodies with slightly more adipose and marginally less muscle compared to male raters.
But the study, like all research, includes some caveats.
“This study required participants to carry out psychophysical tasks online, and these are time consuming,” Tovée said. “Owing to time constraints, we did not include measurements of social comparison, as is indicated by the Tripartite Influence Model of body image dissatisfaction. Future attempts to replicate or results should do so.”
The study, “The degree to which the cultural ideal is internalized predicts judgments of male and female physical attractiveness“, was authored by Bethany J. Ridley, Piers L. Cornelissen, Nadia Maalin, Sophie Mohamed, Robin S. S. Kramer, Kristofor McCarty, and Martin J. Tovée.