Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Malaysia. Electronic address: ian.stephen@mq.edu.au
  • 2 School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Malaysia
Body Image, 2014 Mar;11(2):183-6.
PMID: 24405818 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.11.007

Abstract

Perceived weight in the face and body size have been shown to be significant predictors of both attractiveness and health. Studies looking at the relationship between attractiveness, perceived health, and perceived weight in faces have found that individuals prefer a lower weight for attractiveness than for apparent health. Here, a group of twenty-four Asian participants were allowed to manipulate the apparent body mass indices (BMIs) of full-length photographs of young Malaysian Chinese women to enhance their perceived healthiness and attractiveness. Results showed that both men and women differentiated between attractiveness and health by preferring a lower BMI for attractiveness than health, suggesting a consistency in the preferred ideal BMI for attractiveness and healthy appearance across both sexes. Results also suggested that BMI provides important cues to judgments of attractive and healthy appearance.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.