Competitive Orientations and Women’s Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery
Affiliation(s)
Department of Psychology, University of Southern Maine, Portland, USA. Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Southern Maine, Portland, USA. Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, USA.
ABSTRACT
Women are presumed to compete intrasexually primarily on the basis of physical attractiveness. As such, in efforts to enhance their appearance, women may strive to achieve unrealistic cultural ideals of attractiveness promulgated in the media with potentially negative implications (e.g., body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorders, and cosmetic surgery). The present study considered the implications of two forms of competitive orientation on women’s acceptance of cosmetic surgery. Findings indicated that a hypercompetitive orientation (psychologically unhealthy) was a better predictor of acceptance of cosmetic surgery than body dysmorphia. Personal development competitiveness (psychologically healthy) was not related to either body dysmorphia or cosmetic surgery acceptance. Implication of these results and direction for further research are considered.
Cite this paper
Thornton, B. , Ryckman, R. & Gold, J. (2013). Competitive Orientations and Women’s Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery. Psychology, 4, 67-72. doi: 10.4236/psych.2013.41009.
Thornton, B. , Ryckman, R. & Gold, J. (2013). Competitive Orientations and Women’s Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery. Psychology, 4, 67-72. doi: 10.4236/psych.2013.41009.
References
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Predicting consideration of cosmetic surgery in a college population: A continuum of body image disturbance and the importance of coping strategies. Body Image, 8, 267-274. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.04.002 [7] Calogero, R. M., Pina, A., Park, L., & Rahemtulla, Z. (2010). The role of sexual objectification in college women’s cosmetic surgery attitudes. Sex Roles, 63, 32-41. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9759-5 [8] Cash, T. F. (2000). Manuals for the appearance schemas inventory, body image ideals questionnaire, multi-dimensional body-self relations questionnaire, and situational inventory of body-image dysphoria. URL (last checked 3 January 2013). http://www.body-images.com [9] Cash, T. (2002). The situational inventory of body-image dysphoria: Psychometric evidence and development of a short form. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 32, 362-366. doi:10.1002/eat.10100 [10] Chapkis, W. (1986). Beauty secrets: Women and the politics of appearance. Cambridge, MA: South End Press. [11] Collier, S. A., Ryckman, R. M., Thornton, B., & Gold, J. A. (2010). Competitive personality attitudes and forgiveness of others. Journal of Psychology, 144, 535-543. doi:10.1080/00223980.2010.511305 [12] Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, 349-354. doi:10.1037/h0047358 [13] Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray. doi:10.1037/12293-000 [14] Derenne, J. L., & Beresin, E. V. (2006). Body image, media, and eating disorders. Academic Psychiatry, 30, 257-261. doi:10.1176/appi.ap.30.3.257 [15] Dru, V. (2003). Relationships between an ego orientation scale and a hypercompetitive scale: Their correlates with dogmatism and authoritarianism factors. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1509-1524. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00366-5 [16] Fisher, M. (2004). Female intrasexual competition decreases female facial attractiveness. 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[22] Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1974). Short forms of the Texas social behavior inventory (TSBI), an objective measure of self-esteem. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 4, 473-475. [23] Henderson-King, D., & Henderson-King, E. (2005). Acceptance of cosmetic surgery: Scale development and validation. Body Image, 2, 137-149. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2005.03.003 [24] Henderson-King, D., & Brooks, K. D. (2009). Materialism, socio-cultural appearance messages, and parental attitudes predict college women’s attitudes about cosmetic surgery. Psychology of Women’s Quarterly, 33, 133-142. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.01480.x [25] Hesse-Biber, S. (1996). Am I thin enough yet? New York: Oxford University Press. [26] Horney, K. (1937). The neurotic personality of our time. New York: Norton. [27] Moradi, B., & Huang, Y. (2008). Objectification theory and psychology of women: A decade of advances and future directions. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32, 377-398. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.00452.x [28] Muth, J. L., & Cash, T. F. (1997). Body-image attitudes: What difference does gender make? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27, 1438-1452. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb01607.x [29] Pliner, P., Chaikin, S., & Flett, G. L. (1990). Gender differences in concern with body weight and physical appearance over the life span. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 263-273. doi:10.1177/0146167290162007 [30] Reynolds, W. M. (1982). Development of reliable and valid short forms of the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28, 119-125. doi:10.1002/1097-4679(198201)38:1<119::AID-JCLP2270380118>3.0.CO;2-I [31] Ross, S. R., Rausch, M. K., & Canada, K. E. (2003). Competition and cooperation in the five-factor model: Individual differences in achievement orientation. Journal of Psychology, 137, 323-337. doi:10.1080/00223980309600617 [32] Rothblum, E. D. (1994). “I’ll die for the revolution but don’t ask me not to diet”: Feminism and the continuing stigmatization of obesity. In P. Fallon, M. A. Katzman, & S. C. Wooley (Eds.), Feminist perspectives on eating disorders (pp. 53-76). New York: Guilford Press. [33] Ryckman, R. M. (2013). Theories of personality (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. [34] Ryckman, R. M., & Hamel, J. (1992). Female adolescents’ motives related to involvement in organized team sports. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 23, 147-160. [35] Ryckman, R. M., Hammer, M., Kaczor, L. M., & Gold, J. A. (1990). Construction of a hypercompetitive attitude scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 620-629. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5503&4_19 [36] Ryckman, R. M., Hammer, M., Kaczor, L. M., & Gold, J. A. (1996). Construction of a personal development competitive attitude scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66, 374-386. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6602_15 [37] Ryckman, R. M., Libby, C. R., van den Borne, B., Gold, J. A., & Lindner, M. A. (1997). Values of hypercompetitive and personal development competitive individuals. Journal of Personality Assessment, 69, 271-283. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6902_2 [38] Ryckman, R. M., Thornton, B., Gold, J. A., & Burckle, M. A. (2002). Romantic relationships of hypercompetive individuals. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 21, 517-530. doi:10.1521/jscp.21.5.517.22619 [39] Ryckman, R. M., Thornton, B., & Butler, J. C. (1994). Personality correlates of the hypercompetitive attitude scale: Validity tests of Horney’s theory of neurosis. Journal of Personality Assessment, 62, 84-94. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6201_8 [40] Sarwer, D. B., & Crerand, C. E. (2004). Body image and cosmetic medical treatments. Body Image, 1, 99-111. doi:10.1016/S1740-1445(03)00003-2 [41] Seid, R. P. (1994). Too “close to the bone”: The historical context for women’s obsession with slenderness. In P. Fallon, M. A. Katzman, & S. C. Wooley (Eds.), Feminist perspectives on eating disorders (pp. 3-16). New York: Guilford Press. [42] Striegel-Moore, R. H., & Cachelin, F. M. (1999). Bod image concerns and disordered eating in adolescent girls: Risk and protective factors. In N. G. Johnson, M. C. Roberts, & J. Worell (Eds.), Beyond appearance: A new look at adolescent girls (pp. 85-108). Washington DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/10325-003 [43] Thornton, B., Lovley, A., Ryckman, R. M., & Gold, J. A. (2009). Playing dumb and knowing it all: Competitive orientation and impression management strategies. Individual Differences Research, 7, 265-271. [44] Thornton, B., & Moore, S. (1993). Physical attractiveness contrast effect: Implications for self-esteem and evaluations of the social self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 474-480. doi:10.1177/0146167293194012 [45] Thornton, B., Ryckman, R. M., & Gold, J. A. (2011a). Hypercompetitiveness and relationships: Further implications for romantic, family, and peer relationships. Psychology: Individual Development, 2, 269 274. [46] Thornton, B., Ryckman, R. M., & Gold, J. A. (2011b). Competitive orientations and the type A behavior pattern. Psychology: Individual Development, 2, 411-415. [47] Veale, D. (2004). Advances in a cognitive behavioral model of body dysmorphic disorder. Body Image, 1, 113-125. doi:10.1016/S1740-1445(03)00009-3 [48] Watson, P. J., Morris, R. J., & Miller, L. (1998). Narcissism and the self as continuum: Correlations with assertiveeness and hyper competitiveness. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 17, 249-259. doi:10.2190/29JH-9GDF-HC4A-02WE [49] Wolf, N. (1991). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. NY: William Morrow and Company.
[1] Allport, G. W. (1961). Pattern and growth in personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. [2] American Society of Plastic Surgeons (2011). Plastic surgery statistics report. URL (last checked 3 January 2013). http://www.plasticsurgery.org/News-and-Resources/2011-Statistics-.html [3] Bessenoff, G. R. (2006). Can the media affect us? Social comparison, self-discrepancy, and the thin ideal. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30, 239-251. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2006.00292.x [4] Brownmiller, S. (1984). Femininity. New York: Simon & Schuster. [5] Burckle, M. A., Ryckman, R. M., Gold, J. A., Thornton, B., & Audesse, R. J. (1999). Forms of competitive attitude and achievement orientation in relation to disordered eating. Sex Roles, 40, 853-870. doi:10.1023/A:1018873005147 [6] Callaghan, G. M., Lopez, A., Wong, L., Northcross, J., & Anderson, K. R. (2011). Predicting consideration of cosmetic surgery in a college population: A continuum of body image disturbance and the importance of coping strategies. Body Image, 8, 267-274. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.04.002 [7] Calogero, R. M., Pina, A., Park, L., & Rahemtulla, Z. (2010). The role of sexual objectification in college women’s cosmetic surgery attitudes. Sex Roles, 63, 32-41. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9759-5 [8] Cash, T. F. (2000). Manuals for the appearance schemas inventory, body image ideals questionnaire, multi-dimensional body-self relations questionnaire, and situational inventory of body-image dysphoria. URL (last checked 3 January 2013). http://www.body-images.com [9] Cash, T. (2002). The situational inventory of body-image dysphoria: Psychometric evidence and development of a short form. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 32, 362-366. doi:10.1002/eat.10100 [10] Chapkis, W. (1986). Beauty secrets: Women and the politics of appearance. Cambridge, MA: South End Press. [11] Collier, S. A., Ryckman, R. M., Thornton, B., & Gold, J. A. (2010). Competitive personality attitudes and forgiveness of others. Journal of Psychology, 144, 535-543. doi:10.1080/00223980.2010.511305 [12] Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1960). A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 24, 349-354. doi:10.1037/h0047358 [13] Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray. doi:10.1037/12293-000 [14] Derenne, J. L., & Beresin, E. V. (2006). Body image, media, and eating disorders. Academic Psychiatry, 30, 257-261. doi:10.1176/appi.ap.30.3.257 [15] Dru, V. (2003). Relationships between an ego orientation scale and a hypercompetitive scale: Their correlates with dogmatism and authoritarianism factors. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1509-1524. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00366-5 [16] Fisher, M. (2004). Female intrasexual competition decreases female facial attractiveness. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 271, S283-S285. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2004.0160 [17] Fisher, M., & Cox, A. (2011). Four strategies used during intrasexual competition for mates. Personal Relationships, 18, 20-38. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2010.01307.x [18] Franzoi, S. (1995). The body-as-object versus the body-as-process: Gender differences and gender considerations. Sex Roles, 33, 417 437. doi:10.1007/BF01954577 [19] Franzoi, S., & Shields, S. A. (1984). The body esteem scale: Multidimensional structure and sex differences is a college population. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, 173-178. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4802_12 [20] Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173-206. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x [21] Hatfield, E., & Sprecher, S. (1986). Mirror, mirror... The importance of looks in everyday life. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. [22] Helmreich, R., & Stapp, J. (1974). Short forms of the Texas social behavior inventory (TSBI), an objective measure of self-esteem. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 4, 473-475. [23] Henderson-King, D., & Henderson-King, E. (2005). Acceptance of cosmetic surgery: Scale development and validation. Body Image, 2, 137-149. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2005.03.003 [24] Henderson-King, D., & Brooks, K. D. (2009). Materialism, socio-cultural appearance messages, and parental attitudes predict college women’s attitudes about cosmetic surgery. Psychology of Women’s Quarterly, 33, 133-142. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.01480.x [25] Hesse-Biber, S. (1996). Am I thin enough yet? New York: Oxford University Press. [26] Horney, K. (1937). The neurotic personality of our time. New York: Norton. [27] Moradi, B., & Huang, Y. (2008). Objectification theory and psychology of women: A decade of advances and future directions. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32, 377-398. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.00452.x [28] Muth, J. L., & Cash, T. F. (1997). Body-image attitudes: What difference does gender make? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27, 1438-1452. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb01607.x [29] Pliner, P., Chaikin, S., & Flett, G. L. (1990). Gender differences in concern with body weight and physical appearance over the life span. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 263-273. doi:10.1177/0146167290162007 [30] Reynolds, W. M. (1982). Development of reliable and valid short forms of the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28, 119-125. doi:10.1002/1097-4679(198201)38:1<119::AID-JCLP2270380118>3.0.CO;2-I [31] Ross, S. R., Rausch, M. K., & Canada, K. E. (2003). Competition and cooperation in the five-factor model: Individual differences in achievement orientation. Journal of Psychology, 137, 323-337. doi:10.1080/00223980309600617 [32] Rothblum, E. D. (1994). “I’ll die for the revolution but don’t ask me not to diet”: Feminism and the continuing stigmatization of obesity. In P. Fallon, M. A. Katzman, & S. C. Wooley (Eds.), Feminist perspectives on eating disorders (pp. 53-76). New York: Guilford Press. [33] Ryckman, R. M. (2013). Theories of personality (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. [34] Ryckman, R. M., & Hamel, J. (1992). Female adolescents’ motives related to involvement in organized team sports. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 23, 147-160. [35] Ryckman, R. M., Hammer, M., Kaczor, L. M., & Gold, J. A. (1990). Construction of a hypercompetitive attitude scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 620-629. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5503&4_19 [36] Ryckman, R. M., Hammer, M., Kaczor, L. M., & Gold, J. A. (1996). Construction of a personal development competitive attitude scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66, 374-386. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6602_15 [37] Ryckman, R. M., Libby, C. R., van den Borne, B., Gold, J. A., & Lindner, M. A. (1997). Values of hypercompetitive and personal development competitive individuals. Journal of Personality Assessment, 69, 271-283. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6902_2 [38] Ryckman, R. M., Thornton, B., Gold, J. A., & Burckle, M. A. (2002). Romantic relationships of hypercompetive individuals. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 21, 517-530. doi:10.1521/jscp.21.5.517.22619 [39] Ryckman, R. M., Thornton, B., & Butler, J. C. (1994). Personality correlates of the hypercompetitive attitude scale: Validity tests of Horney’s theory of neurosis. Journal of Personality Assessment, 62, 84-94. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6201_8 [40] Sarwer, D. B., & Crerand, C. E. (2004). Body image and cosmetic medical treatments. Body Image, 1, 99-111. doi:10.1016/S1740-1445(03)00003-2 [41] Seid, R. P. (1994). Too “close to the bone”: The historical context for women’s obsession with slenderness. In P. Fallon, M. A. Katzman, & S. C. Wooley (Eds.), Feminist perspectives on eating disorders (pp. 3-16). New York: Guilford Press. [42] Striegel-Moore, R. H., & Cachelin, F. M. (1999). Bod image concerns and disordered eating in adolescent girls: Risk and protective factors. In N. G. Johnson, M. C. Roberts, & J. Worell (Eds.), Beyond appearance: A new look at adolescent girls (pp. 85-108). Washington DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/10325-003 [43] Thornton, B., Lovley, A., Ryckman, R. M., & Gold, J. A. (2009). Playing dumb and knowing it all: Competitive orientation and impression management strategies. Individual Differences Research, 7, 265-271. [44] Thornton, B., & Moore, S. (1993). Physical attractiveness contrast effect: Implications for self-esteem and evaluations of the social self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 474-480. doi:10.1177/0146167293194012 [45] Thornton, B., Ryckman, R. M., & Gold, J. A. (2011a). Hypercompetitiveness and relationships: Further implications for romantic, family, and peer relationships. Psychology: Individual Development, 2, 269 274. [46] Thornton, B., Ryckman, R. M., & Gold, J. A. (2011b). Competitive orientations and the type A behavior pattern. Psychology: Individual Development, 2, 411-415. [47] Veale, D. (2004). Advances in a cognitive behavioral model of body dysmorphic disorder. Body Image, 1, 113-125. doi:10.1016/S1740-1445(03)00009-3 [48] Watson, P. J., Morris, R. J., & Miller, L. (1998). Narcissism and the self as continuum: Correlations with assertiveeness and hyper competitiveness. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 17, 249-259. doi:10.2190/29JH-9GDF-HC4A-02WE [49] Wolf, N. (1991). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. NY: William Morrow and Company.