Copyright o 1994, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. The Impact of Actual ... maintain their physical attractiveness (Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, &. Thompson ...
BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 1994, 15(4), 535-542 Copyright o 1994, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
The Impact of Actual and Perceived Changes in Body Weight on Women's Physical Attractiveness Thomas R. Alley and Katherine M. Scully Clemson University
To determine whether small changes in body weight are likely to alter women's physical attractiveness, 100 college students were asked to select the more attractive photograph of 33 young women. Each of these 33 women were photographed twice, separated by an 8-week interval during which all of them changed weight. These pairs were presented in varied orders to control for the effects of order and side of presentation. All photographs showed women in a standardized pose and attire with their faces masked. Lighter targets were not consistently selected as more attractive even though 66% of the pairs of photographs differed in perceived attractiveness. The percentage weight difference between the photographs in each pair did not significantly alter the level of preference for one of the photographs. Nonetheless, photographs did tend to receive higher attractiveness ratings when the targets were perceived as weighing less. The results suggest that attractiveness varies more as a function of perceived than actual weight and that small changes in weight may not have a reliable influence on physical attractiveness.
Most women in our society are concerned with their body weight and eager to have or maintain thin bodies (Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1985). Women's concern with weight is reflected in the popularity of dieting and other weight-loss programs and in the prevalence of eating disorders (Schwartz, Thompson, & Johnson, 1982). The concern with weight and concomitant behaviors such as dieting seem to stem mainly from the beliefs that body weight is an important determinant of a
Requests for reprints should be sent to Thomas R. Alley, Department of Psychology, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-1511.
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woman's attractiveness and that gaining or losing weight can notably alter one's bodily attractiveness. There is little research directly testing these widely held beliefs, but the evidence that is available does support them. Rodin and Striegel-Moore (1984; cited in Rodin et al., 1985) found that weight and body shape were "the central determinants" (p. 277) of a woman's perception of her own physical attractiveness - a perception that may accurately reflect the high importance of body build or figure in males' attraction to women (Nevid, 1984) and the power of an unattractive body to subdue the positive effect of an attractive face (Alicke, Smith, & Klotz, 1986). Several studies have shown that obesity impairs, whereas thinness promotes, physical attractiveness as judged by others (e.g., Furnham & Radley, 1989). Other studies have shown that negative stereotypes of overweight people develop in early childhood, along with societal stereotypes and standards of physical attractiveness, including the thin standard for female bodily attractiveness (cf. Buckmaster & Brownell, 1988; Feidman, Feidman, & Goodman, 1988; Rodin et al., 1985). Hence, it is not surprising that both anecdotal reports and some research results indicate that even preadolescent girls have a thin standard of bodily attractiveness and often assume that even small changes in body weight will alter their physical attractiveness (Collins, 1991). The increasing prevalence of eating disorders and dieting also seems to be linked to our society's thin standard of female bodily attractiveness, with unhealthful eating patterns adopted by women seeking to improve or maintain their physical attractiveness (Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, & Thompson, 1980; Silverstein & Perdue, 1988; Silverstein, Peterson, & Perdue, 1986). Eating disorders can be thought of as occupying the extreme end of a continuum of a normative worrying about weight, feeling too fat, and dieting exhibited by most women (Rodin et al., 1985). Whether or not it is reflected in their behavior, it appears that most American women would like to lose weight, including most women who are of objectively normal weight (Cash & Hicks, 1990). Collins (1991) found that even among thin girls, 24
