final thoughts:
To evaluate whether or not individuals were satisfied with their body types, we asked each respondent to choose an image that represented his or her perceived body type. We then asked the respondent to choose an image that represented his or her ideal body type. By subtracting their perceived from their ideal body types, we were able to calculate how satisfied the individuals were with their own body images. This provided us with an indirect way to assess the respondents’ satisfaction with their body images. We found a majority of individuals to be unsatisfied with their body images. Over 60% of males and 80% of females were not satisfied with their body images. We also found that females tended to prefer slimmer body images, while males preferred bulkier body images.
To directly assess the respondents’ satisfaction with their body images, we asked each respondent how much his or her weight and physical shape influenced their self-perception. Most individuals responded that they only sometimes felt both their weight and physical shape influenced their self-perception.
Because the respondents’ indirect and direct responses differed, we concluded that when asked directly, respondents are more likely to deny that their weight and shape affects their self-perception as opposed to when asked indirectly. We find this interesting because it mimics the trends of social media use. People are more likely to portray only the positives of their lives on social media and hide the negatives, making it seem like their lives are actually better than they are most of the time. However, in reality, it is usually more difficult to hide the negatives of one’s life, because as humans we interact with each other so often that we are able to pick up on nonverbal and implied communication such as a lowered self-perception.
Outside research:
“Approximately 80% of U.S. women don’t like how they look.
34% of men are dissatisfied with their body.
Over 50% of Americans aren’t happy with their current weight.
70% of normal weighted women want to be thinner.” - Park Nicollet Melrose Center
“The most vulnerable users, researchers say, are the ones who spend most of their time posting, commenting on and comparing themselves to photos. One study found that female college students who did this on Facebook were more likely to link their self-worth to their looks. Interestingly, while girls report more body image disturbance and disordered eating than boys—studies have shown both can be equally damaged by social media.” - TIME, 2016
Our findings seem to support research from various outside sources. From our data, we were able to determine that over 80% of all females were not satisfied with their body images, and this was also found in the study done by the Park Nicollet Melrose Center. However, we also found that 60% of the males we surveyed were dissatisfied with their bodies, and this differs with research that found that 34% of men were dissatisfied with their bodies. We also found that nearly 75% of the women we surveyed desired a slimmer body image, and the study found that 70% of normal weighted women wanted to be thinner.
Another study found that female college students who spent more time on Facebook were more likely to link their self-worth to their looks. We also found that the more the individual used social media, such as Facebook, the more dissatisfied that individual was with his or her body. This was the case for both men and women.
What is being done?:
Our research shows that social media does indeed affect self-perception and, more often than not, the effects of this are negative. In this day and age, social media is an important, if not necessary, part of our daily lives. It is critical that we are able to use social media without enduring the mentally negative affects of it. We can do this by first educating ourselves on the harms of social media on our self-perception, the values and worth of self, and the fallacy of a perfect life portrayed on social media. We could also attempt to limit our use of social media. It is not likely that people will completely stop posting images that portray a blissful life free of the less attractive occurrences of daily life, but we can change how we let social media affect us and work to add positivity on social media, making it a better experience for all people.
