Elsevier

Body Image

Volume 1, Issue 2, May 2004, Pages 183-191
Body Image

Do men find “bony” women attractive?:: Consequences of misperceiving opposite sex perceptions of attractive body image

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1740-1445(03)00025-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Due to its role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders, body image perceptions and dissatisfaction continue to be an important area of study. Perceptions of attractive body images held by members of the opposite sex are an important determinant of body image satisfaction among both men and women. This research shows that men are accurate in their perceptions of what women find attractive among men, but women believe men want women to be thinner than men actually report. Furthermore, this inaccurate perception is associated with eating disorder symptomatology. The role of contingent self-worth was also assessed. Results indicate that individuals whose self-worth is more contingent on appearance-related standards experience more negative consequences than those who misperceive what the opposite sex finds attractive, but whose self-worth is less contingent on appearance. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Introduction

Past research has shown that body image disturbance among college students is related to eating disorders (Cooley & Toray, 2001; Duva & Lester, 1997). More specifically, it has been shown that body image disturbance is a precursor to eating disorders (Killen, Taylor, Hammer, Litt, Wilson, Rich, Hayward, Simmonds, Kraemer, & Varady, 1993). Preoccupation with and perceptual disturbance of body shape and weight are also included as diagnostic criteria of both bulimia and anorexia nervosa (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Body image disturbance, in its own right, has been the target of several interventions, including an undergraduate body image course (Springer, Winzelberg, Perkins, & Taylor, 1999) and social comparison based interventions (Posavac, Posavac, & Weigel, 2001).

Given the emphasis on social comparison processes among women, one might presume that eating disorder symptomotology can arise from such comparisons. In fact, viewing media images depicting thin models has been found to predict eating disorder symptomatology among female college students (Stice, Schupak-Newberg, Shaw, & Stein, 1994; Stice & Shaw, 1994). In addition to predicting serious pathological outcomes, media exposure has been linked to changes in body image disturbance and satisfaction (Groesz, Levine, & Murnen, 2002).

Several studies, many using a social comparison framework, have found support for the relationship between viewing thin media images and decreased body satisfaction among female college students (discussed in Thompson & Heinberg, 1999). In a recent study, Lin and Kulik (2002) found that college women experienced decreased body satisfaction and confidence of attractiveness after viewing a single image of a thin woman. College-aged women exposed to images of thin models have also been found to exhibit the lowest levels of weight satisfaction, when compared to women exposed to plus-size or average-size models (Irving, 1990). Finally, in a meta-analysis of 25 studies, Groesz, Levine and Murnen (2002) found an average effect size of −0.30 between media exposure and body image satisfaction. Despite an ample number of studies, very little attention has been given to the possibility that social comparisons with others may be partially motivated by the desire to gain information about what the opposite sex finds attractive.

Findings from the field of evolutionary psychology, and mate selection more specifically, would lead one to believe that what the opposite sex finds attractive should be most important in determining how one is affected by appearance-related comparison information. Over the past several decades attractiveness has become more important to both males and females (Buss, Shackelford, Kirkpatrick, & Larsen, 2001), suggesting that today women and men should be especially sensitive to what the opposite sex finds attractive. Evolutionary theories of mate selection predict that men choose their mates based on reproductive ability. Previous research has shown that a pleasing appearance is a reflection of a woman’s reproductive ability (Buss, 1987). One aspect of physical appearance is the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), which provides a measure of body fat distribution. Men are known to prefer women with a low, yet normal WHR, which is indicative of better health and reproductive status (Singh, 1991). Men do not prefer women with WHRs indicative of extreme thinness.

Normative misperceptions have been found to play a role in several behaviors, most notably binge drinking among college students. For example, research has shown that college students misperceive peer drinking norms, most often overestimating peer drinking levels (Prentice & Miller, 1993). Furthermore, this overestimation of peer drinking levels leads to increased levels of personal alcohol consumption (see Borsari & Carey, 2001) indicating that targeting peer drinking misperceptions may be an effective intervention for binge drinking among college students (Neighbors, Larimer, & Lewis, in press). Similar results have been found for perceptions of gambling (Larimer & Neighbors, in press).

In fact, several studies have investigated the effects of correcting peer drinking misperceptions on college students’ alcohol consumption levels. Personalized interventions present an individual student’s perceived level of peer drinking in addition to the actual peer drinking level in order to decrease the individual student’s own consumption level. Interventions containing a normative misperception component have been found to reduce alcohol consumption (Baer, Marlatt, Kivlahan, Fromme, Larimer, & Williams, 1992; Dimeff, Baer, Kivlahan, & Marlatt, 1999). One study investigating the sole effects of normative feedback intervention techniques also found significant decreases in alcohol consumption (Neighbors et al., in press).

Within the realm of body image, previous research has shown that individuals inaccurately perceive what the opposite sex finds attractive in terms of body image (Fallon & Rozin, 1985). More specifically, it has been shown that women have inaccurate perceptions of what men find attractive in women. Specifically, women believe that men find very thin women attractive, but men report finding less thin women most attractive (Lamb, Jackson, Cassiday, & Priest, 1993). This finding has been replicated among females from other western countries as well (Huon, Morris, & Brown, 1990). Consistent with this is the fact that women report their ideal body image as being smaller than that which men find most attractive. Conversely, men do not exaggerate women’s attraction to thin men, and if anything they may do the opposite.

In another study investigating misperceptions among different generations, it was demonstrated that older women, in addition to their college-aged daughters, also believed that same-aged men preferred a thinner female body image than men actually preferred (Rozin & Fallon, 1988). These findings were replicated using non-related subjects of varying ages, indicating that there are cohort differences in body image misperceptions as well (Lamb et al., 1993). Taken together, these results suggest that young women today who underestimate male perceptions of attractive female body image may experience social and cultural factors that are different than those of women in the past, and may therefore, be at increased risk of eating disorders or related behaviors and attitudes. To date, no studies have investigated whether or not this misperception is in fact associated with various negative outcomes associated with eating disorders.

Contingent self-esteem reflects the extent to which positive self-regard is conditional or contingent upon social approval, appearance, meeting expectations or other criteria (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001; Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003). Two levels of generality have been examined in the literature. Kernis and coworkers have examined the extent to which a person’s self-esteem is generally contingent across a variety of domains, whereas Crocker and coworkers have focused more on contingencies within specific domains (e.g., physical appearance). Contingent self-esteem is a potentially important moderator for body image perceptions and misperceptions. Previous research has shown that appearance-related social comparisons are more distressing for women with low levels of perceived attractiveness and who generally base their self-worth on contingencies (Patrick, Neighbors, & Knee, in press). Related research has shown that individuals who base their self-worth more specifically on weight and shape have lower global self-esteem and body esteem and are at greater risk for eating disorders (Geller, Johnston, & Madsen, 1997; Geller, Johnston, Madsen, Goldner, Remic, & Birmingham, 1998).

Contingent self-esteem at both levels of generality (global and appearance specific) is potentially important in two ways. First, basing self-worth on contingencies may affect perceptions of what others find attractive. We suggest that individuals who base their self-worth on contingencies are likely to be more aware of and pay more attention to cultural projections of attractiveness (e.g., media depictions) and potentially more likely to focus on thinness as an indicator of attractiveness. Second, the consequences of misperceptions are likely to be greater for those who base their self-worth on contingencies. For example, exaggeration of thinness as an indicator of attractiveness is likely to be especially problematic for individuals who base their self-worth largely on their appearance or on other people’s expectations. Consequences of basing self-worth on contingencies will be evident primarily when contingencies are not fulfilled. Esteem-related standards that are unrealistically based on misperceptions will likely result in adverse psychological consequences and may promote unhealthy behaviors aimed at satisfying the unrealistic standards.

There were several hypotheses investigated in this study. First, consistent with previous research it was hypothesized that women would exaggerate men’s preference for thin women, whereas men would hold more accurate perceptions of what women believe is an attractive body shape for men. Second, it was hypothesized that individuals holding inaccurate perceptions of what others find attractive would experience more negative body and eating related attitudes and behaviors. Finally, it was hypothesized that individuals who misperceive what the opposite sex finds attractive and who also base their self-worth on appearance would experience more negative body and eating related attitudes and behaviors than those who misperceive what the opposite sex finds attractive but do not base their self-worth on appearance.

Section snippets

Participants

Two hundred and ninety undergraduate students (124 men, 166 women) from a medium-sized midwestern university served as participants. Participants were recruited via sign-up sheets available to all students enrolled in psychology courses allowing extra credit for research participation. Demographic information indicated that 90.7% of participants were Caucasian and 3.1% were Native American. The remaining 6.2% consisted of various other ethnicities. The average body mass index was 23.33 (SD

Misperceptions of opposite sex preference for thinness

First, consistent with previous research we sought to demonstrate that perceptions of what the opposite sex finds attractive differ from what the opposite sex actually finds attractive. We conducted independent samples t-tests to determine whether men and women do in fact exhibit these perceptual discrepancies. Results revealed that women overestimated the extent to which men prefer thin women. On average, women thought that men preferred women to be thinner (M=25.60, SD=8.97) than men actually

Discussion

The present research demonstrated that perceptions of what the opposite sex finds attractive differ from what the opposite sex actually finds attractive. However, this misperception was present only among women. That is, women think that men want women to be thinner than men actually want, whereas men appear to have more accurate perceptions of what women find attractive. This research replicates previous findings by Fallon and Rozin (1985), Rozin and Fallon (1988), and Lamb et al. (1993)

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the North Dakota Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network.

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