**4. Internalization of societal standards**

Not all women are equally influenced by societal standards of beauty. Some individuals may not be affected by media messages at all, while others are greatly affected and tend to modify their behaviors in a dysfunctional way to model media-promoted images. Researchers speculated that some interpersonal and intrapersonal factors play a role in influencing an individual's response to societal standards.

One specific individual difference variable, internalization of societal pressures regarding standards of attractiveness, appears to moderate or even mediate the media's effects on women's body dissatisfaction and eating dysfunction. Internalization is a process in which individuals assimilate the idea that possessing the ideal body shape is associated with being happy and successful and begin to hold themselves up against the societal standards [40]. Researchers identified two trends of internalization. One is thin-internalization, in which an individual wants to be thin or skinny; the other is athlete-internalization referring to the desire to possess a lean but muscular body [33]. While these two trends differ in the societal standards that one subscribes to, individuals who experience greater pressure to conform to either societal standard are more likely to internalize the ideal body stereotype [39]. Living in a culture that puts such a strong emphasis on the media and uses it to convey beauty standards increases the perceived pressure to conform for some individuals. This may increase their propensity to internalization and create a strong desire for them to achieve ideal beauty standards. Thus, they are at a greater risk of experiencing body image disturbances.

Empirical studies substantiate extensive evidence of internalization. For example, middle-school-aged girls who perceive higher peer influence and more television influence on the importance of attractiveness reported greater dissatisfaction with their body image and having pathological beliefs about eating [14]. College women who saw photographs of thin models from fashion magazines reported significantly higher levels of private body self-consciousness and anxiety than women in the control group [41]. Women with eating disorders demonstrated significant increases in overestimating their body size following exposure to photographs of models from popular fashion magazines. However, no such effect was found among women without eating disorders [41]. People with bulimic symptoms, regardless of the severity of their symptoms, experienced lower levels of self-esteem and weight satisfaction after seeing photographs of thinner models compared to after seeing photographs of larger models [42].

Why are some individuals more likely to internalize societal standards than others? Psychologists suggest that "People differ considerably in how they want to be seen, but they share in common an active pursuit of those desired self-images." [30]. Femininity and attractiveness, among many other qualities, are important to women's self-image. One study found that, in order to present themselves as feminine, female participants consumed less food when getting acquainted with a desirable male companion than with others [43]. Compared to the other qualities, societal standards of attractiveness is a highly accessible external source that can be used to define the self. Therefore, for women who lack a clear definition of their identity, internalizing the thin ideal and comparing their appearance to other women may serve as a means to gain self-knowledge [44].

Unfortunately, defining their self-concept in these ways can have negative implications for women's body image. A sociocultural model stressed that the current societal standards for thinness, as well as other standards of beauty for women are impossible to achieve for the average woman [31, 34]. It is not difficult to notice discrepancies between the actual self and the ideal self through upward social comparison. For example, when flipping through fashion magazines, one may make comparisons between her body shape and the models' and inevitably notice the differences in their sizes. Strauman and colleagues found that actualideal discrepancies among female undergraduates were correlated with dissatisfaction with weight and appearance-related beliefs about self [45].

Another source of self-knowledge comes from one's interaction with others. Interpersonal contexts provide opportunities for one to gain insights into his/her self-knowledge [30]. In particular, they allow people to choose comparison targets and interaction partners in ways that maximize benefits to the self. People tend to choose interaction partners who see them as they see themselves due to the desire for self-verification [46]. They create environments that confirm their self-views, primarily by choosing appropriate interaction partners, and they interpret and remember their interactions as confirming their self-views. People choose and are highly committed to interaction partners who confirm their self-views, even if those self-views are negative [46]. Therefore, their negative self-views can be verified, maintained, or even reinforced through their interactions.

### **5. Social approval and fear of appearance-related rejection**

Messages about societal standards of attractiveness do not emanate just from media sources. Unfortunately, family, peers, coaches, teachers, and others help reinforce this socialization of women [37, 47, 48]. Their perception plays a critical role in influencing our self-image. Many interpersonal influences have been identified to contribute to the development and maintenance of shape- and weightrelated disorders [49]. The factors include, but are not limited to, teasing or critical comments about one's appearance from parents, peers, or other significant others. For example, one study found that body-related comments received in childhood predicted body esteem in adulthood [49].

The fear of interpersonal rejection leads to a high amount of stress for women. People's sensitivity to rejection based on their appearance within interpersonal contexts are named appearance-rejection sensitivity (RS). Highly sensitive people are self-conscious about how they look. They anxiously anticipate that other people would reject them for their appearance. Moreover, when they are rejected, they attribute their appearance as the reason of rejection. Appearance-RS strongly predicted disruptive and excessive body image concerns [50]. The more sensitive participants were to being rejected based on their appearance, the more likely they were to report thoughts and behaviors characterizing body dysmorphic symptoms, to view cosmetic surgery as acceptable for both social and intrapersonal reasons, and to consider having cosmetic surgery in the future [50]. Appearance-RS also predicted social reasons for having cosmetic surgery [50]. This finding is consistent with research linking higher sensitivity with sociocultural influences, such as peer acceptance and feeling pressured to please others [37, 51, 52].

Women view their body image as an area that they can improve in order to gain social acceptance. In an experiment examining the implicit relations between rejection and appearance, female participants attempted to modify their body image in order to achieve self-enhancement [53]. Self-enhancement is one of two general sets of motives. When people are under threat (e.g., rejection, negative

*Blossoming for Whom? Social Approval and Body Image DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94503*

feedback, low self-esteem, depression, illness), their affective system and desires for self-enhancement are invoked [54]. Kunda proposed that the motivation to self-enhancement leads people to believe that they possess the desired traits, which in this case is smaller body size [55]. In another study, women who received self-esteem threats reported greater satisfaction with their appearance and less preoccupied with it than women who received positive feedback [56]. While the results indicate that participants held self-defensive perspectives immediately after receiving negative feedback, they might experience a paradoxical increase in investment in body image later on [57, 58]. As counterintuitive as this may seem, evidence shows that, after rejection and disapproval, people are motivated to protect their self-image by regulating their body image in order to maintain a balanced selfconcept and diffuse the unbearable emotional distress. Compared to other aspects of the self, such as intelligence, one's body seems to be salient yet more malleable.

### **6. The crazy efforts in controlling body image**

As a result of the interplay between sociocultural influences and the internalization process, women experience dissatisfaction towards their appearance. On the perceptual level, they are likely to overestimate their weight and size and see themselves as bigger than their actual size. Such irrational and inaccurate perception could lead to greater distress and a stronger motive to change. Consequently, individuals may develop distorted beliefs and automatic thoughts about their appearance and its significance [59].

As a result of the negative self-schema, individuals may resort to two common approaches to help regulate their body image. One is the avoidance approach, as some individuals are prone to avoid situations that might generate body image distress. For example, they might wear baggy clothes, avoid tight-fitting or revealing clothes, avoid mirror, and voluntarily isolate from social situations [60]. Other individuals may be prone to actively pursue the ideal body image and try to minimize the actual-ideal discrepancies [61]. They might monitor the condition of their body through repeated weighing and mirror checking. They are also preoccupied with their appearance and spend time-consuming efforts to groom and manage specific body areas. The more dangerous forms of effort include extreme restraints of eating behaviors and cosmetic surgeries. Regardless of the differences in approach, these actions are inherently self-reinforcing. They might relieve the individuals of immediate distress, but perpetuate the problems in the long term.

#### **7. Conclusion**

Struggles with body image have accompanied men and women throughout history and across cultures. With the development of research, we are fortunate to uncover the underlying mechanisms and pathways that link sociocultural influences and individual risk factors. However, many aspects of this problem still remain unresolved. Despite the active effort of studying and intervention, many individuals are still dissatisfied with their appearance and resort to alter their body in dysfunctional manners.

As we are embracing increasing diversity within our culture, it is imperative to reevaluate the dichotomous nature of our societal standards. When we put a category of qualities on the pedestal, we are essentially labeling people who do not possess such qualities as inadequate. Subsequently, individuals are subject to social scrutiny and risk disapproval from their significant and/or desirable others. The stakes are raised obviously too high to the degree that it may erode individuals' self-esteem and overall well-being. In order for individuals to regain control over their body image, the real effort that we should spend is to challenge media messages and commonly held beliefs about beauty and help individuals develop a secure and stable self-concept that captures their true essence.
