Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Appearance

We live in a society in which messages associating physical attractiveness with success and happiness are pervasive. There is an epidemic of appearance concerns amongst teenagers and adults in westernised countries and body image dissatisfaction is now considered normative. Large numbers of people experience negative impacts on wellbeing and, for many adolescents, adults, and even children, appearance concerns are influential in choices about a range of health behaviours. The challenges facing them include difficulties with social encounters and the problem of having to cope with negative self perceptions.

The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Appearance is a comprehensive reference text written by experts in the field. It examines how people feel about the way they look, and why it is that some people are happy with their appearance whilst increasing numbers are troubled by the way they look - reporting that these appearance-related concerns affect many aspects of their lives including relationships, health and well-being. It considers the influence of other people and how the media affects thoughts and behaviours related to appearance. It explores the experiences of people living with a disfigurement in a society that seems to be increasingly focussed on appearance and the pursuit of an idealised image of beauty, size and weight.

Exploring a topic that has been often neglected in the psychological literature, this book will be invaluable for health, clinical, and social psychologists, health professionals working with patients with visible differences, and those in the field of public health and education.

List of contents

• Introduction


• Setting the Scene


• 1: Overview


• 2: Hannah Frith: Appearance and Society


• 3: Malcolm MacLachlan, Grainne Ni Mháille, Pamela Gallagher and Deirdre Desmond: Embodiment and Appearance


• 4: Hannah Falvey: Cross-cultural Differences


• 5: Esther L.E. Hansen and Peter E.M. Butler: Challenges in Health Care Provision in the UK


• 6: Valerie Lamaine and Andrea Pusic: Challenges in Health Care Provision in the USA


• 7: Tom Potokar and Patricia Price: Challenges in Health Care Provision in Resource-Poor Countries


• 8: Julie Kent: A Sociological Perspective in Biomedical Technologies and Appearance


• 9: Andrew R. Thompson: Researching Appearance: Models, Theories, and Frameworks


• 10 Summary and Synthesis: Nichola Rumsey and Diana Harcourt


• Who is affected by appearance concerns, in what way, and why?


• 11: Overview


• Across the lifespan


• 12: Linda Smolak: Appearance in Childhood and Adolescence


• 13: Marika Tiggemann and Julie Slevec: Appearance in Adulthood


• 14: Lucie Baker and Eyal Gringart: Appearance in Later Life


• Individual differences in adjustment and distress


• 15: Helen Falkner: Gender


• 16: Caroline Huxley and Nikki Hayfield: Lesbian, Gay and Bisexualities, Appearance and Body Image


• 17: Habib Naqvi and Krysia Saul: Culture and Ethnicity


• 18: Emma Halliwell and Phillippa Diedrichs: Influence of the Media


• 19 The Role of the Family: Rebecca Bellew


• 20: Lina Ricciardelli and David Mellor: Influence of Peers


• 21: Timothy P. Moss and Ben Rosser: Adult Psychosocial Adjustment to Visible Differences: Physical and Psychological Predictors of Variation


• Consequences of Appearance Concerns


• 22 Appearance and Exercise: James Byron-Daniel


• 23: Irmgard Tischner and Helen Malson: Understanding the Too Fat Body and the Too Thin Body: A Critical Psychological Perspective


• 24: Victoria Lawson: Appearance Concerns, Dietary Restriction and Disordered Eating


• 25: Canice E. Crerand, Leanne Magee and David B. Sarwer: Cosmetic Procedures


• Experiences of people who have a visible difference


• 26: Kristin Billaud-Feragen: Congenital Conditions


• 27: Julie Wisely and Sarah Gaskell: Trauma - with special reference to burn injury


• 28: Christine Bundy: Visible Difference Associated with Disease: Skin conditions


• 29: Heidi Williamson and Melissa Wallace: When Treatment Affects Appearance


• 30: Summary and Synthesis


• What needs to change and how can change be achieved


• 31: Section Overview


• Societal Interventions


• 32: Barry Gunter: Role of the Media


• 33: James Partridge: Persuading the Public: New face values for the 21st Century

About the author

Professor Rumsey is VTCT Professor of Appearance Research at UWE and is Co-Director of the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR). Following the completion of her PhD “Psychological Problems Associated with Facial Disfigurement” in 1983, Nichola has built an international reputation for her research in this field and has attracted funding from a variety of bodies to support research on appearance. Nichola was awarded a personal Chair by UWE in 2002. She was elected President of the Craniofacial Society of Great Britain & Ireland in 2003-4 (the first psychologist to be elected to this position), and Chair of the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology from 2005-6. She was awarded honorary membership of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons in 2009.

Dr Harcourt was appointed Reader in Health Psychology at UWE in 2006, and is Co-Director of the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR). Her interest in the psychological consequences of changes to appearance led her to conduct her PhD research into women's experiences of mastectomy and breast reconstruction after a diagnosis of cancer. Her PhD was supervised by Professor Nichola Rumsey, with whom she has worked closely since the inception of the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) in 1998. She was Chair of the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology from 2009-10.

Summary

We live in a society in which messages associating physical attractiveness with success and happiness are pervasive.This book gives a detailed, authoritative account of research, policy, and practice in psychological aspects of appearance, including the role of the media in shaping people's attitudes and behaviours towards appearance.

Report

Nichola Rumsey and Diana Harcourt have done a necessary and excellent job in the creation of The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Appearance, and one hopes for sequels. Yes, the psychology of appearance should have a place in the sun. PsycCRITIQUES, May 2013

Product details

• Authors: Nichola (Vtct Professor of Appearance Psyc Rumsey
• Assisted by: Diana Harcourt (Editor), Harcourt Diana (Editor), Nichola Rumsey (Editor), Rumsey Nichola (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 03.07.2014
• EAN: 9780198723226
• ISBN: 978-0-19-872322-6
• No. of pages: 736
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Psychology > Theoretical psychology; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > Non-clinical medicine; MEDICAL / Public Health, PSYCHOLOGY / Social Psychology, PSYCHOLOGY / Clinical Psychology, Clinical psychology, Health psychology, Social, group or collective psychology, MEDICAL / Surgery / Cosmetic & Reconstructive, Plastic and reconstructive surgery