A Negative Body Image

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Although body image is a complex and multifaceted construct, encompassing at least perceptual, affective, cognitive and possibly behavioral aspects of body experience (Cash & Pruzinsky, 1990), in contemporary Western society the major focus has been on the body’s appearance, in particular on body shape and weight. What was stated above is not something that cause surprise as long as nowadays, society, states women’s beauty in a specific way and give with a lot of emphasis the desire of thinness which is something ideal for every woman but is not so easy to achieve (Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann, & Ahrens, 1992). Society also states an ideal male body image which is a muscular body that looks athletic enough (Leit, Pope, & Gray, 2001). As it is understood,…show more content…
This may mean someone to feel proud for the way he/she look like but being realistic at the same time by seeing each of his/her body parts exactly like they are and not have a false image about them. As a negative body image is considered to be the false image of the body or some of the body parts individually. Individuals that tend to have a negative body image may feel ashamed, anxious or they may see some body parts bigger or smaller than they really are. This situation explains why there are numerus people that experience so negative thoughts about their bodies. Various studies have exhibited impressive disappointment with body size and shape among ladies, to such an extent that ladies' weight has been suitably portrayed as "a regularizing discontent" (Rodin, Silberstein, and Striegel-Moore, 1985). Although it is less well-documented among males, it gives the idea that men and young men are likewise progressively reporting body disappointment, giving more attention on strength (McCreary and Sasse,…show more content…
In this way, researches are able to provide limited information on the body image and on how body image is influenced throughout the adult life. Moreover, there are various psychological factors like anxiety, bad mood, and low self-esteem that break down the good body image and are incriminated for a negative body image (Hewitt & Flett, 1991; Sassaroli & Ruggiero, 2005; Markey & Vender Wal, 2007). Self-esteem as mentioned above seems to be one of the most important risk factors for the dissatisfaction of the body image (Fairburn et al., 2003). Furthermore, Emotional Intelligence (EI) plays an important role in the positive or negative body image. Emotional Intelligence (EI) includes the ability to have the exact reasoning over your emotions and also the ability to be able to think by using your emotions or your emotional experience (Mayer et al.,
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