chapter 2 physical self

• Material self


  Physical world
• Immaterial self


  Virtual reality
• Society shapes us in many ways, possibly more than we realize it
• How society shapes us

  • How we perceive our bodies visually
  • How we feel about our physical appearance
  • How we think and talk to ourselves about our bodies
  • Our sense of how the other people view our bodies
• The current embedded idea of what is attractive, beautiful, or handsome is an unrealistic image, which is genetically impossible for many of us to emulate
• This unrealistic image is continually driven into our minds by the media through ads, movies, and TV shows
• Media


  A very powerful tool in reinforcing cultural beliefs and values
• Although the media is not fully responsible for determining the standards for physical attractiveness, it makes escaping the barrage of images and attitudes almost impossible to escape
• Positive view of "self"


  Understanding that healthy, attractive bodies come in many shapes and sizes, and that physical appearance says very little about our character or value as a person
• We have to strive to know ourselves beyond our preconceived ideas of who we are
• Beauty


  One of the most enduring and controversial themes in western philosophy
• Two most-debated views about beauty

  • Beauty is objective
  • Beauty is subjective
• Beauty (before 18th century)


  Treated as an objective quality
• Philosophers who treated beauty as an objective quality

  • St. Augustine
  • Plato
  • Aristotle
• Beauty (18th century onwards)

  Associated with pleasure as a personal preference
• Philosophers who treated beauty as subjective

  • David Hume
  • Immanuel Kant
  • Francis Hutcheson
• The term for a makeup artist in Egyptian hieroglyphic is derived from the root "sesh," which means, "to write, to engrave"
• Makeup application was taken pretty seriously back then: the same accuracy was needed to paint lips as etching symbols into a rock
• Halo effect


  ( also known as the physical attractiveness stereotype and what is beautiful is good)A cognitive bias where attractive individuals are rated more favorably for their personality traits or characteristics as compared to those who are less attractive
• Research found that a person who is perceived as attractive makes more money than a person of below-average looks
• In politics, voters who are not actively engaged in social and political issues choose candidates based on "looks" 90% of the time
• ( evolutionary psychology) Facial attractiveness

  Structural qualities of the face that could indicate a person's quality as a romantic partner and as a mate
• Sex-typical facial features of adult men and women are the result of the testosterone to estrogen ratio or, estrogen to testosterone, respectively, acting on the individual during development
• A full-lipped, cheek-chiseled man in Ancient Greece knew two things - that his beauty was a blessing (a gift of the gods no less) and that his perfect exterior hid an inner perfection
• For the Greeks a beautiful body was considered direct evidence of a beautiful mind. They even had a word for it - kaloskagathos - which meant being gorgeous to look at, and hence being a good person
• Body image


  How one thinks and feels toward one's body
• Culture has a significant impact on how a person feels about himself or herself, as well as his or her body image
• Ideal standards of body sizes are culturally specific
• Since the 1960s, ideal body sizes for white American women have emphasized thinness
• The Philippines is undoubtedly influenced by Western culture, particularly American culture; a culture that generally tends to hyper-focus on dieting and body appearance
• Digitally retouched photos are the norm (i.e., photoshopped), and this mentality can negatively influence a person's body image
• A study reported that young Filipino women were dissatisfied with their bodies that possibly stemmed from unreasonable weight concerns and extreme drive for thinness
• Self-esteem


  How you value yourself and how you feel others value you. was coined by William James in 1800. James presented self-esteem as the number of successes a person achieves in the domains of life that are important to him or her, divided by the number of failures that occurred in those areas (The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology and Behavioral Science, 2002).
• Self-esteem is important because it can affect your mental health as well as how you behave
• Body image


  How you view your physical body, whether you feel you are attractive, and how you feel some other people like your looks
• For many people (especially teenagers) body image is closely linked to self-esteem
• Physical beauty


  The degree to which a person's physical traits are considered pleasing or beautiful
• Physical beauty standards differ from one person to another
• A self-image problem happens when your looks do not match your beauty standards
• To have a positive self-image and a higher self-esteem you must fix your false, beliefs about physical attractiveness first