Aesthetics And Beauty In Society Essay

Introduction Contemporary society has one of its implicit norms concepts on aesthetics and beauty. When beauty is spoken of, some of us have the immediate conceptions of physical fitness, dieting, and satisfaction with our appearances. Media has been successful at ingraining the ideals in each one of these criteria. We are thus acculturated to thinking that beautiful is tall, thin, and is a health buff in terms of diet. Are perceptions or evaluations of each of these variables gendered? To find out the answer to this question, an empirical study was conducted among Philadelphia residents to determine if they had significant differences in their evaluations of the following variables: 1) satisfaction with their present weight; 2) perceptions on their consumption of a healthy diet; and 3) perceptions of their level of physical fitness. The selection of respondents has been done through convenience sampling, where the questionnaires were deployed to immediate family, acquaintances, and colleagues at work. The portion of the questionnaire which shall be discussed in the current paper is the one which focused on the three variables outlined above. Thus, the independent variable is gender while the dependent variables are 1) satisfaction with their present weight; 2) perceptions on their consumption of a healthy diet; and 3) perceptions of their level of physical fitness. Hypotheses The following are the null and alternative hypotheses for testing significant differences between males and females for each of these variables: Satisfaction with Present Weight Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between males and females on their evaluations of satisfaction with their present weight. H0:mmales’ physical fitness = mfemales’ physical fitness Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between males and females on their evaluations of satisfaction with their present weight. Ha: mmales’ physical fitness  ¹ mfemales’ physical fitness Consumption of a Healthy Diet Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between males and females on their evaluations of their consumption of a healthy diet. Ho: mmales’ sat with weight = mfemales’ sat with weight Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between males and females on their evaluations of their consumption of a healthy diet. Ho: mmales’ sat with weight  ¹ mfemales’ sat with weight Level of Physical Fitness Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference between males and females on their evaluations of their level of physical fitness. H0:mmales’ cons of healthy diet   = mfemales’ cons of healthy diet Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant difference between males and females on their evaluations of their level of physical fitness. H0:mmales’ cons of healthy diet   Ã‚ ¹ mfemales’ cons of healthy diet Table 1 below is a synthesis of these hypotheses: Table 1. Summary of alternative and null hypotheses. Dependent Variable Independent Variable Null Hypothesis(H0)    Alternative Hypothesis (Ha)    Level of Physical Fitness Gender H0:mmales’ physical fitness = mfemales’ physical fitness Ha: mmales’ physical fitness  ¹ mfemales’ physical fitness Satisfaction with Present Weight Gender Ho: mmales’ sat with weight = mfemales’ sat with weight Ho: mmales’ sat with weight  ¹ mfemales’ sat with weight Level of Consumption of a Healthy Diet Gender H0:mmales’ cons of healthy diet   = mfemales’ cons of healthy diet    H0:mmales’ cons of healthy diet   Ã‚ ¹ mfemales’ cons of healthy diet    Methodology Convenience sampling has been used in the selection of the respondents for the survey. The lone criterion that has been utilized in their inclusion is the fact that they are Philadelphia residents. The respondents consisted of our immediate families, friends, colleagues and other acquaintances. The total number of respondents who participated in the study was 341. Of this number, 36% are males, while the remainder is females. The gender breakdown of the sample is depicted in Figure 1 below: Figure 1. Gender breakdown of respondents. Because non-probability sampling was used in the selection of respondents, this may have introduced sources of error into the outcomes of the study. First, the sample may not be representative of males and females in Philadelphia overall. The results may only be generalized and valid for the profile of the respondents who participated in the study. To determine the independent variable, there was a question that asked for the respondent’s gender. On the other hand, the three dependent variables have been measured through a 10-point Likert scale, with 1 indicating strong disagreement, to 10 suggesting strong agreement. Method of Data Analysis To yield the statistical computations and analysis, Microsoft Excel has been used. The statistical tool that was appropriate for the current study is the t-test for two independent samples. When using the tool itself, it appears as â€Å"t-test assuming equal variances† in the data analysis feature of MS Excel. The software automatically provides the t-computed and the t-critical from which one may determine if the outcomes are significant or not. All tests have been conducted using the .05 level of significance or the alpha level. This represents the probability of saying that the null hypothesis is true even upon rejection, or simply the likelihood of making a wrong conclusion. In cases where the probability value computed is less than the significance level, the results of the comparison are said to be significant and the null hypothesis is rejected. Another way of determining significance is to examine the t-computed and the t-critical, when the latter is less than the t-computed, then the outcomes of the comparison are also interpreted as significance. In effect, the null hypothesis is rejected. Results Level of Satisfaction with Present Weight Because of various factors including the media and culture itself, there seems to be more pressure among females to maintain only a certain body weight, which is deemed ‘socially acceptable’. If they do not, they seem to run the risk of being discriminated or to be undesirable in the eyes of males. It is thus expected that females will have a significantly lower mean compared to their male counterparts. Table 2 below shows the descriptive statistics of males with regards to their satisfaction of their present body weight. Table 2. Descriptive Statistics for Males’ Satisfaction with Present Weight.       Mean 6.72 Standard Error 0.26 Median 7.50 Mode 10.00 Standard Deviation 2.92 Sample Variance 8.55 Kurtosis -0.85 Skewness -0.59 Range 9.00 Minimum 1.00 Maximum 10.00 Sum 833.00 Count 124.00 Confidence Level(95.0%) 0.52 Figure 2. The figures above suggest that males have a mean of 6.72, measuring their average satisfaction on their present weight. The median is higher at 7.50. The most frequently occurring score is 10. There are 124 male respondents who garnered valid responses for this item. Table 3. Descriptive Statistics for Females’ Satisfaction with Present Height.       Mean 5.23 Standard Error 0.21 Median 5.00 Mode 1.00 Standard Deviation 3.06 Sample Variance 9.36 Kurtosis -1.31 Skewness 0.09 Range 9.00 Minimum 1.00 Maximum 10.00 Sum 1134.00 Count 217.00 Confidence Level(95.0%) 0.41 Figure 3. Table 3 above depicts the descriptive statistics for female respondents on the same item of satisfaction with their current weight. The mean is 5.23 which is lower than those of males. The median is lower than the mean at 5.00. Finally, the most frequently occurring score is 1.00. There are a total of 217 females who responded to the item. Table 3. T-test for satisfaction with present weight.    Male Female Mean 6.7177419 5.225806 Variance 8.5456989 9.360812 Observations 124 217 Pooled Variance 9.0650633    Hypothesized Mean Difference 0    df 339    t Stat 4.4017781    P(T