Not half bad: Self and others' judgements of body size and attractiveness across the life span

N Donaghue, N Smith�- Sex Roles, 2008 - Springer
N Donaghue, N Smith
Sex Roles, 2008Springer
Self-deprecating judgements of body size are a robust exception to the general tendency for
people to make self-enhancing judgements of themselves. This paper investigates whether
the failure to make self-enhancing body size judgements also generalises to judgements of
other physically grounded attributes, namely, physical attractiveness and sexiness. Sixty
Australian women and men aged between 18 and 88 years of age were photographed, and
their own ratings of their body size, attractiveness and sexiness were compared with those�…
Abstract
Self-deprecating judgements of body size are a robust exception to the general tendency for people to make self-enhancing judgements of themselves. This paper investigates whether the failure to make self-enhancing body size judgements also generalises to judgements of other physically grounded attributes, namely, physical attractiveness and sexiness. Sixty Australian women and men aged between 18 and 88�years of age were photographed, and their own ratings of their body size, attractiveness and sexiness were compared with those made of them by others. Women and men made self-deprecating judgements of body size, but made self-enhancing judgements of attractiveness and sexiness. We suggest that the unambiguous nature of cultural standards for body size, rather than low self-esteem, accounts for the self-deprecating judgements of body size made by men and women.
Springer
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