In the given topic to us we derived the questions:

1. How does the physical body affects one’s self?

2. How can culture or society affects body image and self-esteem?
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you ever wish you could change something about your body?
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Lots of people feel unhappy with some part of their looks. But when you get stuck on what you don't like, it
can really bring down your self-esteem.

You don't need a perfect body to have a good body image. When you like your body as it is, right now, you
boost your body image. And your self-esteem too.

Some people think, "When I get in better shape, I'll like my body. But it's best to start the other way. First,
accept your body. Find things to like about it. Take good care of your body. When you like your body, it's
easier to treat it right.

Body image is an increasingly important topic in this day and age. Today’s society displays immense
pressures to be thin, fit, and beautiful. Images of waif-like models are splashed across television and theater
screens and in magazines, sending a message that success, happiness, and belonging only come with
unattainable beauty. The constant measures of thinness and beauty lead people to scrutinize their own
appearance as well as those around them, usually resulting in viewing their own bodies harsher than reality
(Lowery, Robinson Kurpius, Befort, Blanks, Sollenberger, Nicpon, et al., 2005).

How people view themselves, or their body image, can vastly affect their self-esteem, or overall feeling
of worth. According to Jung and Lee (2006), the lower or more negative one’s body image, the lower his or her
self-esteem. In addition, the more optimistically one feels about his or her appearance, the more optimistically
he or she will feel about him or herself overall (Boyes, Fletcher, & Latner, 2007).

An additional personality trait that may affect clients dealing with low body image and self-esteem is
OBSESSION, particularly obsessing about image (Mintz & Betz, 1988). The presence of image obsession could
lead to more distorted perceptions and broader internalization than those who are not as obsessed with
image. Finally, those who tend to be more selfconscious could put more emphasis on their perceived figure
and how they may or may not measure up to the societal or peer ideals. This may result in being more prone
to having a lower body image and self-esteem (Allgood-Merten et al., 1990).

Self Concept
The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about, evaluates or perceives
themselves. To be aware of oneself is to have a concept of oneself.
According to Baumeister (1999), the individual's belief about himself or herself, including the person's
attributes and who and what the self is.

Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of self has two aspects:
(1) The Existential Self

This is 'the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-concept; the sense of being separate and distinct from
others and the awareness of the constancy of the self' (Bee, 1992).
The child realizes that they exist as a separate entity from others and that they continue to exist over time and
space.

According to Lewis awareness of the existential self begins as young as two to three months old and arises in
part due to the relation the child has with the world. For example, the child smiles and someone smiles back,
or the child touches a mobile and sees it move.

(2) The Categorical Self

Having realized that he or she exists as a separate experiencing being, the child next becomes aware that he or
she is also an object in the world.

Just as other objects including people have properties that can be experienced (big, small, red, smooth and so
on) so the child is becoming aware of him or her self as an object which can be experienced and which has
properties.

The self too can be put into categories such as age, gender, size or skill. Two of the first categories to be
applied are age (“I am 3”) and gender (“I am a girl”).

In early childhood. the categories children apply to themselves are very concrete (e.g., hair color, height and
favorite things). Later, self-description also begins to include reference to internal psychological traits,
comparative evaluations and to how others see them.

______________________________________________________

Carl Rogers (1959) believes that the self-concept has three different components:
• The view you have of yourself (self-image)

• How much value you place on yourself (self-esteem or self-worth)

• What you wish you were really like (ideal-self)

Self-image (how you see yourself)

This does not necessarily have to reflect reality. Indeed a person with anorexia who is thin may have a self
image in which the person believes they are fat. A person's self image is affected by many factors, such as
parental influences, friends, the media etc.
Body image is both internal (personal) and external (society) 
This includes:

 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 other people view our bodies 

How we look has possibly never held as much societal importance or reflected so significantly on our
perceived self worth.

The media in particular, has increasingly become a platform that reinforces cultural beliefs and projects strong
views on how we should look, that we as individuals often unknowingly or knowingly validate and perpetuate.

The more we look at perfect images of others and then look to find those same idealised characteristics in
ourselves and don’t find them, the worse we feel about ourselves.

It’s a cycle that breeds discontent.

With such strong societal scrutiny it’s easy to see how the focus on how we look can slide into the dark side –
negative body image.

The greater our discontent with how we measure up when compared to the societal or media supported
norms, the more negative our body image, and the greater the risk for extreme weight or body control
behaviours occurs. We’re talking…

 Extreme dieting
 Extreme exercise compulsion
 Eating disorders
 Extreme or unnecessary plastic surgery
 Using steroids for muscle building 

Self-esteem (the extent to which you value yourself)

Self-esteem (also known as self-worth) refers to the extent to which we like accept or approve of ourselves, or
how much we value ourselves. Self-esteem always involves a degree of evaluation and we may have either a
positive or a negative view of ourselves.

High self-esteem (we have a positive view of ourselves)

This tends to lead to:

 Confidence in our own abilities

  Self-acceptance
 Not worrying about what others think
 Optimism

Low self-esteem (we have a negative view of ourselves)

This tends to lead to:

 Lack of confidence
 Want to be/look like someone else
 Always worrying what others might think
 Pessimism

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Argyle (2008) believes there are 4 major factors that influence self-esteem.

1. The Reaction of Others

If people admire us, flatter us, seek out our company, listen attentively and agree with us we tend to
develop a positive self-image. If they avoid us, neglect us, tell us things about ourselves that we don’t
want to hear we develop a negative self-image.

2. Comparison with of Others

If the people we compare ourselves with (our reference group) appear to be more successful, happier,
richer, better looking than ourselves we tend to develop a negative self-image BUT if they are less
successful than us our image will be positive.

3. Social Roles
Some social roles carry prestige e.g., doctor, airline pilot, TV. presenter, premiership footballer and this
promotes self-esteem. Other roles carry stigma. E.g., a prisoner, mental hospital patient, refuse
collector or unemployed person.

4. Identification
Roles aren’t just “out there.” They also become part of our personality i.e. we identity with the
positions we occupy, the roles we play and the groups we belong to.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The culture in which we are surrounded by has a significant impact on how we feel about ourselves
and the manner in which we think about our body. Many cultural traditions also contribute to body image and
can influence either negative or positive body image and self-esteem.
Depending on the culture and overall emphasis of traditions involved, a person may find their
surroundings either conducive to or resistant to the building of a healthy body image and self-esteem.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why do body image and self-esteem matter?

Body image and self-esteem directly influence each other—and your feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. If you
don’t like your body (or a part of your body), it’s hard to feel good about your whole self. The reverse is also
true: if you don’t value yourself, it’s hard to notice the good things and give your body the respect it deserves.

Below, see how good body image and self-esteem positively impact mental health:

These are just a few examples. As you can see, good body image, self-esteem, and mental health are not
about making yourself feel happy all the time. They are really about respecting yourself and others, thinking
realistically, and taking action to cope with problems or difficulties in healthy ways.

Below, see how poor body image and self-esteem negatively impact mental health:
As you can see, the problem with negative thinking and feelings is that once people start to focus on
shortcomings or problems in one area or one situation, it becomes very easy to only see problems in many
other areas or situations. Negative thinking has a way of leading to more negative thinking.

Society shapes us in many ways, possibly more than we realise – from our interactions, to our personal
development through to others’ perception of our bodies as a reflection of self worth.

We are social beings. Genetically we rely on one another for the survival of humanity. That primal connection
makes our interactions physiologically and psychologically important. So it’s not surprising that how society
perceives us affects us on many levels.

And it’s partly how society perceives our bodies that is of concern; we’re talking body image.

________________________________________________________________________________

Ideal Self (what you'd like to be)

If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (e.g., your self-image) and what you’d like to be (e.g.,
your ideal-self ) then this is likely to affect how much you value yourself.

Therefore, there is an intimate relationship between self-image, ego-ideal and self-esteem. Humanistic
psychologists study this using the Q-Sort Method.

A person’s ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happens in life and experiences of the person.
Hence, a difference may exist between a person’s ideal self and actual experience. This is called incongruence.

Where a person’s ideal self and actual experience are consistent or very similar, a state of congruence exists.
Rarely, if ever does a total state of congruence exist; all people experience a certain amount of incongruence.
The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional positive regard. Roger’s believed that for a
person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence.

Michael Argyle (2008) says there are four major factors which influence its development:

1. The ways in which others (particularly significant others) react to us.

2. How we think we compare to others
3. Our social roles
4. The extent to which we identify with other people.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

So how can we build a strong and positive body image? 

 Talk back to the media. All media and messages are developed or constructed and are not reflections
of reality. So shout back. Speak our dissatisfaction with the focus on appearance and lack of size
acceptance 

 De-emphasise numbers. Kilograms on a scale don’t tell us anything meaningful about the body as a
whole or our health. Eating habits and activity patterns are much more important 

 Realize that we cannot change our body type: thin, large, short or tall, we need to appreciate the
uniqueness of what we have – and work with it 

 Stop comparing ourselves to others. We are unique and we can’t get a sense of our own body’s needs
and abilities by comparing it to someone else 

 We need to move and enjoy our bodies not because we have to, but because it makes us feel good.
Walking, swimming, biking, dancing – there is something for everyone 

 Spend time with people who have a healthy relationship with food, activity, and their bodies 

 Question the degree to which self-esteem depends on our appearance. If we base our happiness on
how we look it is likely to lead to failure and frustration, and may prevent us from finding true
happiness 

 Broaden our perspective about health and beauty by reading about body image, cultural variances, or
media influence. Check out a local art gallery paying particular attention to fine art collections that
show a variety of body types throughout the ages and in different cultures 

 Recognize that size prejudice is a form of discrimination similar to other forms of discrimination. SHAPE
AND SIZE ARE NOT INDICATORS OF CHARACTER, MORALITY, INTELLIGENCE, OR SUCCESS.