The document summarizes several studies related to body image. It then describes a study conducted by the author that investigated whether 30 participants (15 male, 15 female) found "normal" or "skinny" women to be more attractive. Participants viewed pictures of normal and skinny women and completed a survey. Results showed no gender difference in preferences. Two-thirds found normal women more attractive, though the difference was not significant. Participants did significantly rate normal women as healthier looking. The study had limitations with a small sample size but provides insight into perceptions of attractiveness.

1. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 1
Normal or Skinny: What’s Better?
Barbara Elizabeth Konopko
Kean University

2. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 2
Appendix
Part of Paper Page Numbers
Abstract 3
Introduction 4 - 7
Method 7 - 8
Results 8-9
Table 10
Discussion 11
References 12

3. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 3
Abstract
The current study investigated what people see as more attractive when it comes to size and
women: normal or skinny. There were a total of 30 participants, 15 male and 15 female. Each
participant was given two pictures, one of four skinny women and one of four normal women,
and a survey that contained 12 questions. The findings show that there was no difference in
gender and what picture was chosen as more attractive, but two-thirds of the participants chose
normal over skinny as more attractive. Results from the experiment show that there was no
difference in look preference of skinny women compared to normal women. The null hypothesis
was accepted.

4. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 4
Normal or Skinny: What’s Better?
It is often debated about what factors into women’s ideal body images. There are many
causes of eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and depression that have been found that go hand
in hand with body image. At present, being thin, fit, healthy, and young is ideal for women.
Today, an overweight person is seen as lazy, greedy, or without self control. Media influences on
girls and women's perceptions of their own appearance have been explored extensively.
A study done by Charlotte Markey and Patrick Markey (2012) showed that media effects
how people think of body image. They studied emerging adults responses, both men and
women’s, to a TV show about cosmetic surgery. Immediately after viewing the show,
participants were asked to write a reaction to what they had watched. Each comment was coded
by a positive or negative tone. A Likert scale was used ranging from -5, completely negative, to
+5 completely positive. A majority of the comments were about appearance, culture,
entertainment, and psychology. Results indicated that the participant’s views on the TV show as
fairly positive. The participants were also asked to indicate their general satisfaction with their
physical appearance using a Likert scale from 1- not satisfied at all, to 9- completely satisfied.
Results also showed that there was no difference in men and women’s perception of the media
presentation of idealized female beauty. Although the images did not necessarily pertain to a
males self concept of attractiveness, they were more likely develop an understanding of what
constitutes beauty for women. The conclusion of the experiment was that media effects how both
men and women view attractiveness and their own appearance.
Another study by Dara Greenwood (2012), focused on the psychological effects on body
image. This study compared white women and black women’s views on body image. The study
was done using a survey. They used Rosenberg’s 10-item measure of self-esteem and responses

5. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 5
were made on a 1 to 7 Likert scale. The research suggested that black women were less likely to
rely on others approval, were less likely to idealize white women’s norms, and were less likely to
experience body dissatisfaction compared to white women. It was stated in the article that this
has a lot to do with the role models that white women and black women have. It also stated that
media plays a major role in body dissatisfaction for white women much more than black women.
To research the connection to female characters on television, the participants were asked to list
the names of their favorite female characters, the name of the program they appear on, and then
they were asked to respond to questions designed to see the perceived similarity and wishful
identification. The black participants scored significantly lower than white participants on
wishful identification with a favorite female character. The conclusion of the experiment was
that how white women feel about specific favorite media figures is also relevant to how they feel
about themselves and their bodies.
Another study by Levina Clark(2008) focused on children and body image. Body image
concerns during childhood are important for children’s self-esteem and psychosocial functioning.
Some major concerns are that a development of a poor body image may lead to eating disorders
in adolescence and adult life. It was found that there is a significant association between parent’s
comments about their child’s weight, and the child’s own weight concerns. The participants
consisted of 150 girls in grades 4, 5, and 6. The girls were given a questionnaire twice, separated
by a year. During this year, the girls were given a list of 22 TV shows and 10 magazines and they
were asked to report how frequently they watched or read the media. The girls were also being
looked at by their BMI, which had been recorded in the beginning of the study and at the end,
and whether it increased, decreased, or stayed the same over the year. Another assessment that
was used was appearance conversations. These were assessed by a seven item scale. This

6. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 6
assessed the extent to which the girls talked to their friends about their appearance. After
examining the girls BMI’s, media variables, and peer variables, it was found that these variables
did not find a significant prediction of change in body image over a 1 year period.
A study done by Carolien Martij(2010) discussed that many women show weight and
body concerns that leave them vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, lowered self-esteem,
psychological distress, and eating disorders. Many studies show that women are dissatisfied with
their physical appearance. The study tested whether body satisfaction can be increased by
evaluative conditioning. The experiment consisted of two procedures. The first was a series of
questionnaires about life satisfaction. Next the participants were asked to change into
standardized clothing and had professional pictures taken of themselves. There were two groups,
experimental group, and control group, which the women were randomly assigned too. A
participant was seated at a computer and was flashed pictures of her body and other women’s.
The experimental group was shown pictures of their own body and other women’s bodies
followed by smiling faces. The control groups were shown pictures of their own body and other
women’s bodies followed by a neutral or frowning face. After this task, the participants were
asked to fill out another life satisfaction questionnaire. The participants showed an increase in
global self-esteem and satisfaction with their body shape and weight when pictures of their own
body were followed by positive stimuli in the form of smiling faces. These conditioning effects
occurred only in women who expressed high concern about their weight and body before
performing the conditioning task.
A study done by Cash, T.F, Morrow, J.A., Hrabosky, J. I., & Perry, A.A. (2004)
examined changes in multiple parts of body image among 3,127 college students from 1983
through 2001. The same standardized assessment was used in 22 studies conducted within the

7. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 7
same university. Results confirmed non-black women's increasing body-image dissatisfaction
until the early or mid 1990s, after which significant improvements occurred in terms of overall
body image evaluation and overweight concern among both non-black and black women. A
reduction over time in women's investment in their appearance was also evident. Men's body
image was fairly stable during the 19-year period.
These five articles included experiments with a variety of people related to body image.
The first dealt with men and women. The second dealt with white women and black women. The
third dealt with young girls, the fourth dealt with women of all types, and the fifth dealt with
both men and women over time. Throughout the five articles, it can be concluded that body
image affects people of all ages, body types, gender, and ethnicity. It can also be concluded that
there are several factors that affect one’s view about their body image.
The goal of this experiment was to see what people prefer when it comes to size and
women: normal or skinny. The hypothesis was: There is no difference in look preference of
skinny women compared to normal women.
Method
Participants
There were a total of 30 participants, 15 male and 15 female. The population type was high
school students, college students, and employed adults. The participants were recruited at school
and at home.
Total
Gender Female 15
Male 15
Total 30

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Apparatus
Each participant was given a consent form stating the purpose of the study and what they were
going to be asked to do. The consent form stated that their information and responses would
remain confidential and that were able to decline answering questions at any point. There was a
paper given with two pictures on it along with a survey that contained 12 questions. The
questions were fill in, multiple choice, open ended, and 5 point Likert-type scale ranging from
strongly agree to strongly disagree.
Procedures
The participants were chosen at convenience at school and at home. The participants were
approached and asked if they would like to participate in taking Each participant was given 2
pictures, one of four skinny women and one of 4 normal women. 15 participants were given the
picture one as the normal women and picture two as the skinny women. And the other 15
participants were given picture one as the skinny women, and picture two as the normal women.
This was to prevent order affects. The participants were then given a survey, in paper form,
containing 12 questions asking about the pictures they were shown. The question asked about
attractiveness, healthy sizes, average sizes, and about a few things that pertain to eating
disorders. When the participant finished the survey they were thanked for participating.
Results
The picture order was not significant. This was proved with a Chi Square statistic of DF1,
c2(1, N = 30) = 2.40, p = .21. There was no difference in gender and what picture was chosen as
more attractive, but two-thirds of the participants chose normal over skinny as more attractive.
DF1, c2(1, N = 30) = 1.15, p = .28. It was not significant though. There was a significant
difference in what participants chose as to what women looked more attractive and what set of

9. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 9
women looked healthier. DF1, c2(1, N = 30) = 9.23, p = .002 (See table on next page). When
asked in an open ended question why the participant chose the picture they chose as more
attractive the most popular responses were: Fit, healthy, happy, curvier, and average size. The
majority of the participants, 23 out of 30, said that sizes 7 to 12 are average for a woman. The
majority of participants, 21 out of 30, said that sizes 7 to 12 are healthy for a woman. 13
participants strongly agreed that body image is most important when it comes to attraction. 1
participant said they didn’t know. 16 participants said they disagreed. 19 participants agreed that
the media is a main cause of eating disorders in the United States. 8 participants strongly agreed.
And 3 participants disagreed. 23 participants disagreed that peers are not a main cause of eating
disorders in the United States. 2 participants agreed. 3 participants said they didn’t know. And 2
participants said they strongly disagreed. 12 participants said they didn’t know if family is a
main cause of eating disorders in the United States. 10 participants agreed that family is a main
cause. 7 participants disagreed. And 1 participant strongly disagreed.

10. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 10
Skinny Vs. Normal- Which set of women looked healthier.
Chi-Square Tests
Value df
Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided)
Exact Sig. (2-
sided)
Exact Sig.
(1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 9.231a 1 .002
Continuity Correctionb 6.094 1 .014
Likelihood Ratio 10.100 1 .001
Fisher's Exact Test .008 .008
Linear-by-Linear
Association
8.923 1 .003
N of Valid Cases 30
-There was a .002 significance that the normal women looked healthier than the skinny women.

11. NORMAL OR SKINNY: WHAT’S BETTER? 11
Discussion
Results from the experiment show that there was no difference in look preference of skinny
women compared to normal women. The null hypothesis was accepted. The results showed that
two thirds of the participants chose the normal women as more attractive. The one part of the
experiment that showed significance was that participants chose the normal women as looking
healthier than the skinny women. One of the limitations in the study was that there were only 30
participants. The next study would have more participants. Another limitation was that this was a
convenience sample. The next study would have more of a variety of participants from places
other than school and home. This experiment was important because even though the sample was
small, it shows that both men and women see normal looking women as more attractive than
skinny women. This study can be a help to all the women out there that are unhappy with their
bodies because they think they need to be skinny to be attractive, when this study proves
otherwise.

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References
Cash, T. F., Morrow, J. A., Hrabosky, J. I., & Perry, A. A. (2004). How has body image
changed? A cross-sectional investigation of college women and men from 1983 to 2001.
Journal of Consulting And Clinical Psychology, 72(6).
Clark, L., & Tiggemann, M. (2008). Sociocultural and individual psychological predictors of
body image in young girls: A prospective study. Developmental Psychology, 44(4),
1124-1134.
Greenwood, D. N., & Dal Cin, S. (2012). Ethnicity and body consciousness: Black
and White American women's negotiation of media ideals and others' approval.
Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 1(4), 220-235.
Markey, C. N., & Markey, P. M. (2012). Emerging adults' responses to a media presentation of
idealized female beauty: An examination of cosmetic surgery in reality television.
Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 1(4), 209-219.
Martijn, C., Vanderlinden, M., Roefs, A., Huijding, J., & Jansen, A. (2010). Increasing body
satisfaction of body concerned women through evaluative conditioning using social
stimuli. Health Psychology, 29(5), 514-520.