Over the years there has been a cultural norm for what is socially considered beautiful. These norms have always been expressed through traditional forms of media such as magazines, tv shows and models making it prominent and evident what physical look is accepted as beautiful during that time period. Where do these beauty standards come from? What is the reasoning for why we believe certain things to be beautiful and some things to be displeasing to the eye? Well, in the article “Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder or an Objective Truth? A Neuroscientific Answer” by Norberto M. Grzywacz et al., they are able to answer these questions as they examine both objectivity and subjectivity of beauty with neuroscience to gather new information that would conclude that, “both are reflections of utilitarian brain mechanisms” in which both processes work internally (Grzywacz et al., 2019). They used the processing fluency theory to analyze objectivity in beauty. This theory suggests "the easier it is for a perceiver to process the properties of a stimulus, the greater it's aesthetic response will be"(Grzwacz et al., 2019). By using this theory with Early Renaissance Portraits, they could measure symmetry, balance, and complexity, and find results consistent with the theory that are specific qualities that result in a more scientific standard for beautiful (Grzwacz et al., 2019).
Dr. Grzwacz and his colleagues then looked at the differences due to resulting individuality of "certain aesthetic variables", which they studied through individuals learning and motivation which creates the subjectivity of beauty, and individuals having distinct portions of the "neuroaesthetic space". This research led them to the relationship of appraisal being tied to learning of values from experience (Grzywacz et al., 2019). Their discussion mentioned that "taken together with evidence from neuroimaging studies" their results showed "the process underlying objective and subjective aesthetics are no different from the mechanisms of appraisal" meaning that objectivity and subjectivity of beauty were within the perceiver's brain (Grzywacz et al., 2019). While both internal to the perceiver, objectivity is dependent on underlying brain mechanisms and therefore more "rigid and universal", while subjectivity was based on reinforcement learning and therefore more "flexible and individualized" (Grzywacz et al., 2019). With results from Dr. Grzywacz and his colleagues, we can see that there is a more complex, combination of why we think certain things are beautiful and could warrant further thought in other fundamental brain processes such as memory and emotion that can affect our perception of beauty.
In today’s world immersed
in more technology and social media than ever before, beauty standards and
social norms are taken to new extremes and are affecting young adults and
developing generations. These effects are harming their perception of beauty because
of the way online social media interacts with the psychological factors to
impact appearance concerns and body image disturbances (Mills et al., 2017).
And while there has always been beauty portrayed in forms of traditional media
such as magazines, online social media has become a new level of subjectivity
of what should be considered beautiful or not (Mills et al., 2017). This is
what Jennifer S. Mills, Amy Shannon, and Jacqueline Hogue tackle in their
article “Beauty, Body Image, and the Media”. As mentioned above scientific work
has concluded that the way we perceive beauty is a combination of an objective
truth and individual experience, but what does beauty represent when there are
mass media all pushing the same beauty standards? Mills et al. says, “Mass
media plays a critical role in people’s self-image by informing and reflecting
what people consider to be beautiful or attractive” (Mills et al., 2017). In a
time when influence and subjectivity is stronger than ever this can heavily
impact what is considered beautiful and can mentally affect individuals who
apart of this culture.
In Jennifer S. Mills et
al. research they investigate the effects of idealized media images on body
images. In doing this, they found that “women’s body image was significantly
more negative after viewing thin media images , as compared to after viewing
control images or images of averaged-sized or plus-sized models, and that this
effect was moderate in size (Mills et al., 2017). And that the association
between exposure to idealized body images in the media and body dissatisfaction
holds true for both men and women, but slightly stronger in women than men
(Mills et al., 2017). They also found that further the messages that accompany
idealized body images commonly found in the media make a difference in terms of
how people feel about their bodies after looking at them (Mills et al., 2017).
One of the biggest effects of the medias portrayal of an unobtainable
perfection is eating disorders and this is most often predicted from
dissatisfaction (Mills et al., 2017). From this research they found that even
when we comprehend that most of the time photos are heavily altered and edited
it does not stop women from wanting to achieve those beauty standards (Mills et
al., 2017). Another key finding from their study was that in fact, “people who
are unhappy with their appearance turn to media that feature thin, beautiful
models, possible for advice or information, or to see advertised products aimed
at bringing aspects of one’s appearance closer to the perceived ideal” (Mills
et al., 2017). With all of these findings one of the most important parts of
their study was the examination of social (online) media influence on body
image. They said, “Contemporary media platforms are changing how people
internalize beauty ideals, how they try to control how other people see them
and how they get feedback from others about how they look” (Mills et al., 2017).
These social media sights are not like traditional forms of media such as tv,
movies and magazines because social media is “actively” engaging the users
(Mills et al., 2017). By allowing these platforms to bring forth communication
and connections there is many people who alter photos which may “masquerade as
promoting body positivity and esteem—as particularly risky behaviors in terms
of body image and self-esteem” (Mills et al., 2017). Mills and her colleagues research is
crucial considering there were no advances in this field of internet exposure
on perceptions of beauty and body image 5 years ago (from 2016) and as we learn
more about the effects that social media is creating in a technology dependent
culture, it will lead to some tough questions in order to learn how to fix this social dilemma
for the sake of individuals mental and physical health.
With the information from
Grzywacz et al. and Mills et al. it raises some important questions surrounding
the perception of beauty and the way this could be changed by such an immersive
platform such as social media. According to Grzywacz et al. work, they reveal a
combination between natural and objective truth, and individual
and subjective experiences that make up one’s perception of beauty. But, with a
fast growing presence of social media that presents further implication from
the traditional media, this can alter ones perception of beauty, mental health
and physical health by not only subjecting them to cultural standards but
overwhelming and emotionally overtaking young minds looking to fit into an
unobtainable culture of beauty.
Citations
Grzywacz,
N.M., Pombo, M., Correa-Herran, I.,& Aleem, H. (2019). Is Beauty in the Eye
of the Beholder or an Objective Truth? A Neuroscientific Answer. Mobile
Brain-Body Imaging and the Neuroscience of Art, Innovation and Creativity.
Springer Series on Bio- and Neurosystems, 10. pp. 101-110. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24326-
5_11
Jennifer S. Mills, Amy Shannon and Jacqueline
Hogue (October 25th 2017). Beauty, Body Image, and the Media, Perception of
Beauty, Martha Peaslee Levine, IntechOpen, DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.68944.
Available from:
https://www.intechopen.com/books/perception-of-beauty/beauty-body-image-and-the-media
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