Reconstructing Social Identity Through Physical Attractiveness
ISBN TBA
DOI TBA
PUBLISHER. Springer
AUTHOR/S/. Young Ae Kim & Qiuwen Li
CATEGORIES. Social Identity, Self-Worth, FOMO, Happiness, Physical Attractiveness, Body Image, Cosmetic Surgery
KEYWORDS. Attractiveness, Happy, Happiness, Social Identity, Self-Worth, Self-Esteem, Vanity Validation, Identity Crisis, Cosmetic Medicine, Cosmetic Surgery, Dermatology, Body Image, Problematic Social Media Use (PSMU) Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), Social Media
ABSTRACT.
Attractiveness is an attribute of an individual’s interest and desire for someone or something that outlines affiliative behaviors in human interaction. Physical attractiveness is the aesthetic perception of the physical traits of a human-based on individuals’ subjective preferences and/or cultural and social differences. It has a significant contribution to how people are judged in sexual attractiveness, physical attractiveness, physique, social opportunities, relationships, and more.
In a previous study, we discovered that physical appearance was a significant factor of happiness for young adults, as they desire flawless images of themselves in social media (Belk 1988). The psychological driving forces of improving physical attractiveness are mainly two-fold – 1) it comes from one’s eagerness to satisfy the needs of beauty and shape themselves as "the ideal one in mind", and 2) it comes from the pressure of the external, such as public opinion, employment and so on.
The aim of this present research is to address the relationship between social identity and physical attractiveness trends based on Eastern and Western cultural differences. Social media was used as a measure of social identity because it is a primary interaction tool for current young adults. The research displays significant differences between Eastern and Western cultures in terms of preferences for cosmetic interventions. Comparisons from two Instagram hashtags, #beautiful and #happiness, indicated significant bias of social media images that represent the preferences of cosmetic interventions by culture.
App – Photo filters for selfies.
Methods.
SAMPLES.
The study population consisted of female users in Instagram from two different locations – Japan and the United States. The inclusion criteria for the participants were as follows: females from both countries between 18 and 35 years old. A sample size of 400 was calculated using a 95% CI and 0.05 degrees of freedom.
PROCEDURE.
We gathered the 400 most recent Instagram posts of images of individuals between January 20, 2020 and compared with the 2018 International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Report. The 2019 ISAPS ‘International Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic Surgery’ statistics were examined by country, taking into account the underlying international base population according to the official United Nations population estimates. The number of surgeons was used to determine the number of procedures performed per surgeon.
DATA ANALYSIS.
The Instagram posts were coded for facial, upper body, and entire body of the photograph of oneself which were tagged with the hashtag #Happy and/or #Happiness. For the reliability analysis, we randomly selected 10% of the material. The analysis generally indicated reliable measurement. Krippendorff’s α values were acceptable all (all values, α > .76).
Women hide their imperfections instead of accepting them as an added charm.
-Coco Chanel
What we found.
SOCIAL MEDIA.
Social media is a significant driver of cosmetic interventions. It is important to recognize the latent societal benefits of social media, such as the dissemination of knowledge, discussion of new ideas, and community building, however, it is also important to recognize the human nature to engage in comparison, which encourages negative influences on self-worth by comparing oneself to others (e.g. superior).
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES.
There was an explicit reference to the preferences of physical appearance where people want to improve, which are significantly different by culture.
HASHTAGS.
Within the search of hashtags, such as #happy and #happiness, physical appearance was a strong predictor of one’s happiness.
UNITED STATES.
In the United States, the distribution among types of Instagram images (e.g. Face/Head, Upper Body, and Entire Body) are almost equally desired to post. The types of cosmetic procedures are also desired evenly on their body. Americans considered the breast and overall body image more important than face area alone. Their beauty interest is in the overall frame rather than a particular area of a body even within face/head area.
JAPAN.
Japanese strongly desired to post face and head photography of themselves and nearly did not care to display their upper body nor entire body in the Instagram post. The same trend was observed in the surgical cosmetic procedure preferences where Japanese have drastically high aspiration to have facial/head area of cosmetic procedures than other areas.
INSTAGRAM.
The physical attractiveness was the dominant image types in Instagram under the hashtags of #happy and #happiness as proved from our previous study. The appearance of physically attractive body images on Instagram is a strong predictor to young adult themselves being happy on social media.
You are beautiful as you are.
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