Lesson 4 Physical Self

• Physical Self - refers to our body that includes basic parts of us such as our head, neck, and organs
• Physical Self - is the concrete dimension, the tangible aspects of the person that can be directly observed and examined
• Beauty, traditionally, was among the ultimate values along with goodness, truth, and justice.
• St. Augustine - asked whether things were beautiful because it gave delight, or whether it gave delight because it was beautiful.
• Plato - connected beauty to love and desire.
• Aristotle - asserted that the chief forms of beauty are order, symmetry, and definiteness.
• David Hume - "Beauty is no quality in things themselves, it exist merely in the mind which contemplates them.
• Francis Hutcheson - "the perception of beauty does depend on the external sense of sight alone"
• Halo Effect - the tendency of people to rate attractive individuals more favorably for their personality traits or characteristics compared to those who are less attractive.
• Horn Effect (Devil Effect) - give low rating to the person because of one negative attribute
• Cultural tradition can either be a positive or negative influence on body image and on self-esteem.
• Body Image - refers to how individuals perceived think and feel about their own body and physical appearance.
• Appearance - everything about a person that others can observe, height, weight, skin color, clothes, and hairstyles.
• Causes of poor body image:

  • Emphasis on thin ideal body
  • Bullying and peer pressure
  • Media
• Effects of Body Image:

  • body dissatisfaction
  • depression
  • low self esteem
  • eating disorder
  • extreme body modification
• Bulimia Nervosa - out-of-control eating episodes or binges followed by self-induced vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or other
• Bulimia Nervosa - attempts to purge (get rid) of food HENCE staying in their desired weight
• Bulimia Nervosa - binging and purging to feel good about their self and reduce anxiety
• Anorexia Nervosa - the person only eats minimal amounts of food or exercises vigorously to offset food intake so body weight- sometimes drops dangerously
• Anorexia Nervosa - engage in continuous food restrictions to stay thin to reduce their anxiety
• Binge-eating disorder - individuals may binge repeatedly and find it distressing, but they do not attempt to purge the food
• Various Sources of eating disorders:

  • biological influences: may have been inherited vulnerability
  • psychological factors: a person may be prone to anxiety focused on appearances or distorted body image
  • social: cultural pressures to be thin, social presentations
• Body Dysmorphic Disorder:

  • Imagined Ugliness (Psychological Disturbance); a preoccupation with some imagined defect in appearance by someone who actually looks reasonably normal
  • Subjective Ugliness (came from bullying); they may do something about their imagined ugliness
  • any method sometimes dangerous/unguided/unhealthy
  • going to plastic surgeons again and again
  • Anxiety is a normal response to abnormal situation