Diagnosic Crercise

"MyBest Presentation of the Physical Self

Make the best presentation of yourself through a moviemaker/powerpoint
presentation emphasizing what your physical body can do to enhancing and maintaning
your beauty and good health.

What is beauty? How beauty is appreciated varies through time, culture, and the
various perceptions about the world. Beauty is defined in so many ways, but in its
simplest sense, beauty can be described as happiness.
Every person is unique. Our individual experiences and memories tie together to
form our versions of beauty. We have different sizes, shapes, colors, heritage, and roles.
Hence, our body is simply a shell that allows us to radiate our experiences where beauty
gets to shine through. No culture, company, or concept could ever truly define beauty. As
what Helen Keller said, "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen
or even touched - they must be felt with the heart."

WHAT PHILOSOPHERS THINK ABOUT BEAUTY

(The Stanford Encyclopedia Philosophy, 2016)
The nature of beauty is one of the most enduring and controversial themes in
western philosophy. Beauty, traditionally, was among the ultimate values along with
goodness, truth, and justice. It was a primary theme among ancient Greek, Hellenistic,
and medieval philosophers; it was central to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century

thought. By the beginning of the twentieth century, beauty was in decline as a subject of
interest by the early 2000s.
philosophical inquiry. However, there were signs of revived
The two most-debated views about beauty are:
1. Beauty is objective.
2. Beauty is subjective.
Before the 18th century, most Western philosophical views on beauty treated it as an

objective quality. For example:

St. Augustine asked whether things were beautiful because it gave delight, or whether
it gave delight because it was beautiful. He believed it to be the latter.
Plato connected beauty as a response to love and desire. He asserted that beauty
exists in the realm of Forms, and that objects are found beautiful because they are a
reflection of the idea of beauty that already exist in the realm of Forms.
Aristotle asserted that the chiefforms of beauty are order, symmetry, and definiteness
that can be demonstrated by mathematical sciences.

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 as a
with pleasure
beauty was
associated
Dy the eighteenth century, however,
personal preference. Some philosophers who hold this view are
in the
themselves: It exists merely
things
*
David Hume "Beauty is no quality in
-

different beauty.
One
and each mind perceives a
mind which contemplates them; and every
another is sensible
of beauty:
even perceive deformity, where
PEsOn may in his sentiment, without pretending
to regulate
individual ought to acquiesce own

those of others" (Hume 1757, 136).

of cognition,
not a judgment
mmanuel Kant "The judgment of taste is therefore
-

whose
1s consequently not logical but aesthetical, by
which we understand that
and (Kant 1790, section 1).
determining ground can be no other than subjective"
on the external sense
Francis Hutcheson "The perception of beauty does depend
-

as an internal or
reflex
of sight; however, the internal sense of beauty operates
sense. The same is the case with hearing: hearing music
does not necessarily give the
I. I. X).
perception of harmony as it is distinct from the hearing" (Inquiry

TRIVIA
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 prety seriously back then: the same accuracy was needed to
paint lips as etching symbols into a rock.

WHAT DID PSYCHOLOGY DISCOVER ABOUT BEAUTY?|

(The Psychology of Beauty, WEB)

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.
These study results can be attributed to a cognitive bias called the "halo effect." AA
cognitive bias is an error in reasoning, evaluating, remembering, or any other mental
process that is often a result of holding on to one's preferences and beliefs regardless
of contrary information. The halo effect (also known as the
physical attractiveness
stereotype and the "what is beautiful is good" principle) refers to the tendency of people to
rate attractive individuals more favorably tor their
personality traits or characteristics
as compared to those who are less attractive.
Meanwhile, evolutionary psychology found that faces hold
certain fundamental and
important characteristics that could indicate a
persons quality as a
romantic partner
and as a mate. Among the most important and consistent factors in facial
attractiveness
are structural qualities of the face. These structural
qualities are also sex-tvnical. For
example, in the eyes of female experimental participants, an attractive
one with relatively prominent cheekDones and
man isgenerally
eyebrow ridges and a
relatively long lower
58 A Kisteaph 4 Conderstandin R Sil
face Meanwhile, male raters generally
found women to be attractive with
prominent cheekbones, large eyes,
small nose, a taller forehead, smooth
skin, and an overall young or even
7
childlike appearance.
Our hormones sculpt our faces.
These sex- typical facial features of
adult men and women are the result Com

of the testosterone to estrogen ratio or

estrogen to testosterone, respectively, Su
acting on the individual during "Mirror, mirror, on the wall.. I subjective
is not an acceptable answer"
development. We are programmed to be
drawn to strong indicators of maleness
(for women) and femaleness (for men) partly because they reflect an individual's health

(Fink & Penton-Voak, 2002).

TRIVIA
A tuil-ipped. cheek-chiseled man in Ancient Greece knew two things - that his beauty was a

biessing (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 beinga

good person.

How Cultural Traditions Shape Body Image

Culture has a significant impact on how a person feels about himself or herself, as
well as his or her body image. Cultural traditions can either be a positive or a negative
influence on body image and on self-esteem. Body image is generally defined as how one
thinks and feels toward one's body (Yam, 2013; Cash & Smolak, 2011).
of who they are. Hence,
People see cultural group membership as an integral part
that are related to their culture
they are more likely to engage in events and behaviors
- choose friends, media, and even marital partners from their culture (Yam, 2013; Yeh
& Huang, 1996). When "culture" is experienced as a personally meaningful activity, it is
difficult for a person to resist the conscious and unconscious ways that culture influences

a person's life.
For example, ideal standards of body sizes are culturally specific. Since the 1960s,
ideal body sizes for white American women have emphasized thinness (Yam, 2013; Fallon,
1990; Wiseman, Gray, Mosimann, & Ahrens, 1992). 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

59
 influence a personns
and this mentality can negatively
1 . e . , photoshopped), dissatistied with
their
Filipino women were
mage. A study reported that young
y concerns and
extreme drive for
t n a t possibly stemmed from unreasonable weight
s
thinness (Torres, 2012).

The Relatlonship Between Body image and Self-esteem

then let's take the Rosenberg

Do you have high or low self-esteem? If you don't know,
Self-esteem Scale.

Aotrdj
"HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT MYSELF?"

Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Below is a list of statements dealing with your general feelings about yourself.
Please indicate how stronglyyou agree or disagree with each statement by puttinga
check ( ) mark in the column of your choice.

STRONGLY AGREE
ITEMS

1. On the whole, 1 am satisfied with

AGREE
DISAGREEDISAGREE
myself.

2. Attimes I thinklam no good at all.

3. Ifeel that I have a number of good
qualities.
4. 1 am able to do things as well as
most other people.

5. I feel I do not have much to be

proud of.

6. Icertainly feel useless at times.

7. Ifeel that l'm a person of worth, at
least on an equal plane with others.

8. Iwish l could have more respectfor

myself.

9. All in all, I am inclined tofeel that

am a failure.

10. I take a positive attitude toward

myself.

Source: Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the

adolescent self-image.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
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Scoring:
Items 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 are reverse scored. Give "Strongly Disagree1 point, Dsagree points,
"Agree" 3 points, and "Strongly Agree" 4 points. Sum scores for all ten items. Keep scores
on a continuous scale. Higher scores indicate higher self-esteem.

Does your body image have an impact on your self-esteem?

The term self-esteem 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). In the 1960s,
behavioral scientists defined self-esteem in terms of an attitude concerning ones wortn

as a person (Rosenberg, 1965). Self-esteem is about how you value yourself and how you
feel others value you. Self-esteem is important because it can affect your mental health

as well as how you behave.

Body image physical body, whether you feel you are attractive,
is how you view your
and how you feel some other people like your looks. Formany people (especially teenagers)
body image is closely linked to self-esteem.
If you have a positive body image, you probably like and accept yourself the way you
are, even if you do not fit the popular notion of "beautiful" or "handsome." This healthy
attitude allows you to explore some other aspects of growing up, such as developing good
friendships, becoming more independent from your parents, and challenging yourself
these parts of yourself help boost your self-
physically and mentally. Developing can

esteem
How important is physical beauty?
What came into your mind could be the saying, "Do not judge the book by its cover.
have said this yourself. However,
You may have heard many people say this; you may
conscious mind, your subconscious mind will
though it is a wise thought from the
based on their looks on
contradict you, and you will still find yourself judging people
your initial encounters.
You also understand that you
Physical beauty is extremely important. must

definition of physical beauty so that your self-esteem will not

need to know the correct
suffer. The dictionary's definition of beauty is, "the degree to which a person's physical
definition did not indicate
traits considered pleasing or beautiful." Take note that the
are
"who" determines what type of physical traits is attractive and unattractive. Why?
the good news is that
Because though physical beauty is extremely important,
even
one person to another.
physical beauty standards differ from
looks do not match your beauty standards.
A self-image problem happens when your
thin is sexy and attractive, yet you are not thin
For examnple, if you believe that being

61
(an tact you are on the heavier side) then vou might believe you are unattractive teven

though there are others who find you

attractive).
looks. lo
not with your
P E O D I e m here is with
your own beauty standards and
talse beiiers about
posItIve selt-image and a higher self-esteem you must fix your
physical attractiveness first.

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