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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 203 (2015) 443 – 447
International Conference EDUCATION AND PSYCHOLOGY CHALLENGES - TEACHERS
FOR THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY - 3rd EDITION, EPC-TKS 2015
Is the Body Image So Important? Physical Identity in Relation to
Gender and Self Esteem
Cristian Vasilea,b*
b
a
Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, 39 Bucuresti Blvd., Ploiesti, 100680, Romania
Natural Sciences County Museum – Prahova, 1 Erou Calin Catalin Street, Ploiesti, Romania
Abstract
The paper analyzes the relation between the body image (Physical Identity), Self-esteem and gender. Starting from the
assumption that the Physical Identity is positive correlated to the Self-esteem we have assessed the Physical Identity and the Selfesteem in relation to gender on a sample of 60 adults, divided in two groups: 30 women and 30 men.
The initial assumption was confirmed only for the group of women and it was infirmed for the group of men.
© 2015
Published
by Elsevier
Ltd. Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
©
2015The
TheAuthors.
Authors.
Published
by Elsevier
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review
under
responsibility
of
the
Scientific
Committee of EPC-TKS 2015.
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of EPC-TKS 2015.
Keywords:physical identity; self-concept; self-esteem; gender
1. Introduction
Recent researches introduce new concepts in the study of self-consciousness: body ownership - defined as
immediate and ongoing experience of body belonging to the subject. We can also discuss about the self localization
(self-location) defined as self localization experience to the subject's body in a certain position in space.
Psychologists and neuroscientists began to study the experience of the body property by examining the localization
of self and studying the assigning of the self to various isolated parts of the subject’s body (Botvinick and Cohen,
1998; Ehrsson et al., 2004) and to the entire body (Arzy et al ., 2006a; Lenggenhager et al., 2007). In the latest years
* Corresponding author
E-mail address: [email protected]
1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of EPC-TKS 2015.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.08.322
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Cristian Vasile / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 203 (2015) 443 – 447
the term of embodiment started to be used in order to make referrals to the self and the body. Starting from these
findings, the Physical identity could be assigned to the entire body of a person, or to different parts of the person’s
body, such as face, belly, legs etc.
Physical identity (PhI) represents the individual’s image about his/her own body and the represantion of the body
in relation to the environment (social and natural environment).
2. Study on Physical Identity in relation to Self-esteem and gender
2.1. Methods and instruments
The study sample was formed by 60 subjects, adults, 30 women and 30 men. The investigation was conducted on
a sample of adults aged between 24 and 55 years.
2.1.1. Instruments used
In order to evaluate the Physical Identity (PhI) and Self-esteem (SE) we have used the Identity Structures
Inventory (ISI) measuring seven identity structures, including PhI and SE. Each identity is represented in the scale
by a number of five sentences denoted from 1 to 5. The final scores are then added to each scale, representing the
identity profile of the subject.
The 7 structures measured by ISI refer to the individual subjective perception about:
1. Physical self - Physical Identity (own physicality, bio-physical characteristics of personal).
2. Social self (social identity).
3. Cultural self (identification with a particular culture, including religious aspects).
4. Family self (identification as a member of a family with their own behavioral patterns).
5. Professional self (identification with a particular professional category and with some work).
6. Self-esteem - encompasses both individual beliefs about himself and emotions associated.
7. Behavior directed to itself (resulted mainly from the level of the self-esteem).
2.2. Purpose of the study
The study objective was to evaluate the PhI perception related to SE and gender for the studied sample.
2.3. Results
According to the purpose of the study, the PhI and SE were investigated for both groups (men and women)
Comparisons between the groups were also discussed within the present study. The graphic results for each group
are represented below.
Physical Identity - W
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
SFI - W
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Figure 1. Physical Identity variation (body Self) for women
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Cristian Vasile / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 203 (2015) 443 – 447
In Figure 1 we can observe a low level of the PhI for the women, the average score being 2.03. Only one
maximum score (5) was obtained, meaning a positive level of PhI for the subject.
Physical Identity - M
6
5
4
3
SFI - M
2
1
0
0
10
20
30
40
Figure 2. Physical Identity variation (body Self) for men
In Figure 2 it can be observed also a low level of the PhI for the men, the average score being 2.06. In this group
too only one maximum score (5) was obtained, meaning a positive level of PhI for the subject.
Physical Identity
6
5
Score
4
SFI - W
3
SFI - M
2
1
0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29
Figure 3. Physical Identity variation (body Self) correlated for both genders
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Cristian Vasile / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 203 (2015) 443 – 447
Figure 3 shows a comparison of the PhI both for women and men. The results are much closed and we cannot
confirm the assumption according to which the PhI for women is lower than the one for men.
Further we investigated the level of the SE level in both groups in relation to PhI.
Physical Identity in relation to Self-esteem - W
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718192021222324252627282930
SSI - W
SFI - W
Figure 4. Physical Identity in relation to Self-esteem – women
In Figure 4 we can observe that for women the level of SE is at the highest level only for one subject. The
average score obtained for women is 2.53, meaning a medium level of SE. Also there is a slightly positive
correlation between the PhI and SE for women (r = 0.082).
Physical Identity in relation to Self-esteem - M
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10111213141516171819202122232425262728293031
SSI - M
SFI - M
Figure 5. Physical Identity in relation to Self-esteem –men
Cristian Vasile / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 203 (2015) 443 – 447
Figure 5 show a similar graph: only one subject from the male group obtained the maximum score. The average
score obtained for men is 2.03, meaning a low level of SE for the studied sample. The correlation between PhI and
SE is negative for this group (r = -0.058).
Table 1 present all the figures for the studied sample, in order to have a global view.
Table 1. Average scores for the Physical Identity and the Self-esteem.
Gender
Phys. Id. (Self)
Self-esteem
Pearson (r)
W
2.033333
2.533333
0.082129
M
2.066667
2.3
-0.05898
4. Conclusions
The study indicated that there is a positive correlation between the body subjective image and the self-esteem for
the women (at least for the studied sample). Surprisingly, the results obtained for the self-esteem in the men’s group
were lower than those for the women’s group, meaning that, for this sample, the men have a lower self-esteem than
women. Yet the negative correlation between PhI and SE suggest that the PhI hasn’t the same role within the SE
mechanism as for the women. It seems that even they have a bad image about their body, men have a higher selfesteem than women.
References
Arzy, S., Seeck, M., Ortigue, S., Spinelli, L., Blanke, O. (2006). Induction of an illusory shadow person. Nature, 443:287.
Botvinick, M., Cohen, J. (1998). Rubber hands 'feel' touch that eyes see. Nature, 391:756.
Ehrsson, H.H., Spence, C., Passingham, R.E. (2004). That's my hand! Activity in premotor cortex reflects feeling of ownership of a limb.
Science, 305:875-7.
Lenggenhager, B., Tadi, T., Blanke, O. (2007). Localizing the self outside one’s body: A full body analogue of the rubber hand illusion.
Cognitive Neuroscience Society (abstract), A123.
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