Posted on June 05, 2015 by Jenny Cromack

Body Image and Self-Perceptions

What is Body Image?

Body image is the mental image individuals have regarding their own body and the attitudes they have towards their body (Rudd & Lennon, 2000). It is made up of our self-perceptions, or simply how we feel we look to others. This is becoming an increasingly significant reason for people to engage in exercise. One of the most common reasons I am faced with as personal trainer is that of “looking good” or getting the “beach body”. An aside to this is always being healthier, stronger or fitter but these attributes are all commonly attributed to looking better.

I am all for people looking to keep themselves healthy and fit. However, people associate a healthy body with looking like health magazine models which isn’t always the case. Health is actually “the state of physical, mental, and social well-being” as well as the absence of disease and illness. Therefore, are you healthy if you possess the body of the magazine model but sacrifice social  functioning for body image related behaviours, use significant amounts of artificial substances, or adopt dietary rituals that either severely restrict or indulge in nutrient intake? Not to mention the psychological functioning, surely it isn’t healthy to always be anxious or depressed about your body?

Exactly how people would like to see themselves or the issues that people have with their appearance varies between individuals and there if often a gender difference. Females have traditionally opted for the drive for thinness looking to achieve the slim and slender physique. This has been a big talking point within the research for many years. Males however have only been in the limelight for the last few decades, and their concerns tend to be regarding muscle and they will go down the drive for muscularity route.

People may have elements of body dissatisfaction whereby they are unhappy with specific parts of their body or appearance. This may be a dissatisfaction with body fat or muscle levels, height, or even their hair. It can manifest itself into more extreme concerns and develop into body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) which is when an individual has a distorted view of their own appearance and start to affect their social and psychological functioning.

A more specific sub-category of BDD is muscle dysmorphia (MD) which specifically concerns muscularity. This is when an individual believes that their levels of muscularity are insufficient, when in reality they may possess acceptable levels, and therefore go out of their way to get bigger, stronger, and leaner.

What influences body image?

Body image is like a process and can be influenced by a whole host of things and within the research new pathways of development are being explored all the time. Some of the most common influences are: media, social comparisons, negative comments by others, and sporting involvement.

Media

We are constantly being fed images of the ideal body and how we should look in the eyes of the media. It has been shown that male magazine models shed 12lbs of fat and gained 25lbs of lean mass over a 25 year period (Leit et al., 2001) illustrating the changes in body image ideals being offered to us. This trend has also been seen in boys action figures whereby the measurements of these figures when extrapolated to real-life size were almost impossible to achieve by natural means. The G.I. Joe figure of 1998 had a chest of nearly 55 inches and biceps of nearly 27 inches. This was an increase of nearly 10 and 14 inches respectively compared with the 1973 model (Pope et al., 1999). By being forced fed these images we tend to then internalise these cues and cement them as part of someone we believe we should be or look like.

Social Comparisons

This has similar effects to the media whereby we receive cues from the people in our social environment such as our peers, family and friends. Festinger (1954) proposed the social comparison theory which suggested that as humans we use comparisons to evaluate our own beliefs, opinions and abilities. If these comparisons differ from our own views they have the power to change and alter our beliefs etc. So we will see our friends, or people around us that may be thinner, or more muscular and believe we are inferior and need to be more like these people.

For example, if someone initially believes their body looks okay, with good levels of muscle and fat etc., but then enters an environment where they are surrounded by much more muscular individuals they may then start to question their own physique in comparison. This is how body image may be influenced by the comparisons we make, external comparisons may shape how we feel we should look again by internalising the physiques we see every day.

Negative Comments

When exploring the nature of body image concerns many researchers have found that many people started to take note of their image as a result of bullying, teasing or simply comments by peers or family. These can be comments ranging in levels of severity such as simple comments by those close to you like “you’re looking a bit podgy-ier these day” through to hurtful comments of bullies.

As a result individuals may then believe that there is actually something ‘wrong’ with them and strive to address these ‘flaws’. Or it may be that they then go away and want to change their body image in order to prove people wrong or to use it to then assert dominance over people that have caused them hurt.

Sporting Involvement

This plays a big part in the influence of body image in many people in today’s society. It may all be again related to the ideals we are faced with. In certain sports there may be pressure to look a certain way or possess a certain physique. For example people in contact sports may be under pressure to possess big, muscular, strong physiques or gymnasts may be under pressure to possess the very slim and slender physique. To add to this pressure, within sport there may be coaches telling you to look a certain way, and also there is more opportunity for comparison with team-mates and opposition players. This environment and levels of pressure coming from all different angles may then heavily influence how we see ourselves and how we then want to, or feel we should, look.

Why is Body Image Important to Understand?

Understanding body image and how people respond to the way they perceive themselves is very important. Once individuals have internalise the external influences they are faced with they then construct an image in their head about how they feel they should look. There is usually a discrepancy between how they feel they currently look and how they want to look. This causes them to then seek out behaviours that will help them achieve their desired image. These behaviours vary but commonly, regardless of their body image goal, they will consist of dietary modification or some form of exercise.

Dietary Modification

This seems a good thing initially, people eating more healthily to lose weight or build muscle. However, the desire to get their body image usually dominates their lives and dietary behaviour will become extreme and in some cases mimic eating disorders. People may severely restrict intake or develop bulimic tendencies to lose weight. At the other end of the spectrum they may be constantly eating at regular intervals taking in excessive amounts of nutrients to build muscle.

It can become dysfunctional and affect peoples’ lifestyles whereby for example they may refuse to go out for social meals for fear of not preparing their own food and not knowing the exact nutritional breakdown. Some reports even tell of people waking themselves up throughout the night for feeds, or breaking religious beliefs and fasts to satisfy their nutritional needs required to change their image.

There also tends to be a much higher use of supplementation in those wanting to change their appearance. This doesn’t seem to extreme but if you consider the ideals we are faced with that have been shown to be extreme, and hard to achieve naturally, then it can result in excessive supplement use and even on to more risky substance use all in the name of changing our body to suit what we are led to believe is normal.

Exercise

Exercise is good for us and therefore surely doing more exercise can’t be bad for us? My answer is this is correct however the way we approach our exercise can be harmful to our psychological and social functioning. What you will find is that individuals who are out to chase their body ideals will go to extreme lengths to do so, they will start to priorities their exercise over other important activities, and it can become excessive which can be harmful physically and mentally.

There are reports of people turning up late to work, leaving early, and even losing their jobs because they put training and exercise before these things. Similarly people will turn down social events and activities in order to train. Once the exercise becomes excessive and a pivotal part of these individuals’ lives it starts to take over them. If sessions are missed or their routines is disrupted they may become anxious, distressed, or depressed. There symptoms of body dissatisfaction will then be heightened and thus they will bounce back harder to make up for it causing further dysfunction.

Other Consequences

As a result of the drive to change their body and running parallel to diet and exercise people can display levels of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This is shown in their approach to their regimented diet and exercise. More seriously people can develop anxiety disorders, depression, or clinical eating disorders. This can then become a problem and needs to be controlled.

Take Home Message

Everybody has some level of body image disturbance in that they have areas they would like to alter a little bit but it is when it reaches the levels of extremity described that it can become a problem. There is currently no single process used to help individuals who may experience these high levels of disturbance and resultant behaviours. It is an area I am currently doing my PhD in, but part of my belief is that we need to offer some media literacy to people. If we can highlight the way media misleads us to think that ‘normal’ people can achieve the images we are shown, and the behind the scenes effort that goes into making these models look the way they do it may make people realise that actually this isn’t all natural and normal.

Therefore when considering your body just have a pause and ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What does a healthy body actually mean? It doesn’t always mean possessing the external, superficial, super-muscular or super-thin physique.
  2. Is everything these models do behind the scenes healthy? If you don’t know I can assure you the majority of what they do isn’t always healthy.
  3. Is this image I have in my head realistic, and am I willing to risk my physical, mental, and social health for it?
  4. Are there people around me that can help me achieve the healthy looking body without putting my health at risk? Yes there are…

As fitness professionals, or general people, we should support people in a safe manner with their image concerns and offer support and advice of healthy methods of body transformation with realistic goals and reinforcement that not everyone needs to look like a magazine cover or elite athlete. Also, simply considering the things we say to people regarding the way they look could be the difference between someone feeling good about their body or tipping them over the edge towards  extreme body image dissatisfaction.

Remember your body is your body, it will never look exactly the same as everyone around you. Regular but controlled exercises and a balanced nutritional regime will get you the healthy body you need. Don’t let image be the most important thing, it comes as a bi-product of healthy behaviour naturally.

References:

Leit, R. A., Pope, Jr., H. G. and Gray, J. J. (2001). Cultural expectations of muscularity in men: the evolution of the playgirl centrefolds. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 29, 90-93.

Pope, Jr., H., G., Olivardia, R., Gruber, A. and Borowiecki, J. (1999). Evolving ideals of male body image as seen through action toys. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 26, 65-72.

Rudd, N., A. and Lennon, S., J. (2000). Body image and appearance management behaviours in college women. Clothing and Textile Research Journal, 18, 152-162.

Recommended Reading/Watching::

Book: Little Big Men by Alan Klein

Documentary: Bigger Faster Stronger