Ideal Self-perceptions Research Articles

Examination of Actual and Ideal Body-Related Characteristics and Body-Related Pride in Adult Males.

Body image concerns are becoming more prevalent in males. Discrepancies between actual and ideal body muscularity and thinness have been studied from a pathological perspective whereby perceiving the body as discrepant from an internalized ideal is associated with body dissatisfaction, negative emotions, and harmful body-altering behaviors. It is unclear if agreement among actual and ideal self-perceptions is associated with positive emotion in males. The present study examined the associations between actual and ideal congruence and discrepancies in muscularity and thinness, and two facets of pride (i.e., authentic and hubristic pride) in male adults. Participants (n = 294; Mage = 34.80 years; MBMI = 27.31 kg/m2) completed a cross-sectional self-report survey. Results from polynomial regressions indicated that actual and ideal self-perceptions of muscularity and thinness were significant predictors of both authentic (R2 = .37 and .20) and hubristic pride (R2 = .33 and .19), respectively. Response surface values demonstrated that extremely high or low scores that were congruent for muscularity (a2 = .35 and .40) and thinness (a2 = .18 and .18) perceptions were associated with higher reports of authentic and hubristic pride. These findings demonstrated that congruence in actual and ideal self-perceptions contribute to feelings of pride, suggesting interventions that promote actual and ideal self-perception congruence may be important for fostering positive emotional experiences in males.

Associations between actual and ideal self-perceptions and anticipated pride among young adults

This study examined associations between actual and ideal fitness-related self-discrepancies and anticipated pride. Participants (N = 130) read a hypothetical scenario and were asked to anticipate their feelings of pride and provide reports of actual and ideal self-perceptions. Actual and ideal selves accounted for 29% of the variance in anticipated pride. The congruence between actual and ideal selves was positively, linearly associated with anticipated pride (b = 0.43, p < 0.001). When ideal selves were greater than actual selves, participants reported anticipating more pride (b = −0.70, p < 0.001). Experiencing congruence between actual and ideal selves may be important cognitive appraisals related to the anticipation of pride.

The Association Between Physical Self-Discrepancies and Women’s Physical Activity: The Mediating Role of Motivation

The objectives of this study were to test the associations between physical self-discrepancies (actual:ideal and actual:ought) and physical activity behavior, and to examine whether motivational regulations mediate these associations using self-discrepancy (Higgins, 1987) and organismic integration (Deci & Ryan, 1985) theories as guiding frameworks. Young women (N = 205; M(age) = 18.87 years, SD = 1.83) completed self-report questionnaires. Main analyses involved path analysis using a polynomial regression approach, estimation of direct and indirect effects, and evaluation of response surface values. Agreement between actual and ideal (or ought) physical self-perceptions was related to physical activity both directly and indirectly as mediated by the motivational regulations (R(2) = .24-.30). Specifically, when actual and ideal self-perceptions scores were similar, physical activity levels increased as actual and ideal scores increased. Furthermore, physical activity levels were lower when the discrepancy was such that ideal or ought self were higher than actual self. These findings provide support for integrating self-discrepancy and organismic integration theories to advance research in this area.

Adolescent Psychological and Academic Adjustment as a Function of Discrepancies Between Actual and Ideal Self-Perceptions

Actual-ideal discrepancies are associated with adolescent emotional distress and there is evidence that the size of discrepancies matters. However, the direction of discrepancies has not been examined, perhaps due to limitations of widely used self-discrepancy measures. Two hundred and twelve 7th, 9th and 11th grade students (59% female) in a public school in Jamaica described their actual and ideal selves in several different domains--friendship, dating, schoolwork, family, sports, and religion/spirituality--using a Pie measure. Students also completed measures of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and academic achievement. Discrepancies favoring the ideal self and those favoring the actual self were linked to depressive symptoms, low self-esteem, and poor school grades in the domains of friendship, dating, and schoolwork. Effects were stronger among older adolescents than among younger adolescents. Theories of actual/ideal self-discrepancies have focused on problems arising when the ideal self overshadows the actual self; however, the present study finds that self-discrepancies, regardless of their direction, are a liability. Implications for self-discrepancy measurement, adolescent development, and clinical practice are discussed.

How does the intervention of cardiac surgery affect the self-perception of children with congenital heart disease?

There is little published information about the self-perceptions of children with chronic physical diseases and the ways in which self-perceptions might change as a result of treatment. An innovative measure of self-perception is described, suitable for use by children of widely varying ages as well as by parents. The instrument used assessed eight constructs contributing to self-perception, and also measured differences between perceptions of actual and ideal self. Children (n = 31; age 5-15 years) with congenital heart disease (CHD) were assessed prior to surgery and 1 year post-operatively. Comparisons were made with children before and 1 year after bone marrow transplantation (BMT), and with healthy children. There were no differences between the groups in ideal self-perceptions, but the CHD children rated themselves as weaker, more frightened and more ill than the healthy group. Given the differences in symptomatology and illness experience of children with cyanotic and acyanotic lesions, surprisingly few differences emerged in the self-perceptions of these two groups, although differences were found among younger and older children assessed separately. Significant improvements were found in self-perceptions of the CHD and BMT groups following treatment, and at follow-up, no significant differences remained between the CHD and healthy groups. In the latter, self-perception was largely unchanged between the two assessments. Assessment of self-perception should be an integral part of the assessment of health outcomes in childhood illness. The study demonstrated the significant improvement in self-perception following surgery for CHD. The results also support the validity, reliability and sensitivity to change of the assessment measure.

Self-image disparity, ethnic identity and sex-role stereotypes in British and Cypriot adolescents

This study was concerned with the actual and ideal self-perceptions and intergroup stereotypes of male and female British, British Cypriot and Greek Cypriot adolescents. It was predicted that the three cultures would have a different self-image disparity because of the different socialization experiences of the three groups. The British adolescents had the largest disparity scores and the Greek Cypriots the smallest, with the British Cypriots intermediate between the two. A number of sex differences were also found which supported the prediction that various sex-role stereotypes influenced the self-concept. Finally, all three groups showed strong evidence of preferences for members of their own group by rating the in-group stimuli as more positive than out-group stimuli. The results were discussed with reference to minority groups and their attempts at maintaining an ethnic identity.

Self-Monitoring and Social Perception

This study examined subjects' attribution of self-monitoring processes to themselves and to others, as well as their actual self- and ideal self-perceptions. High self-monitors attributed significantly lower self-monitoring to people they liked, but there were no significant differences in attributions of self-monitoring to themselves and people they disliked. Low self-monitors, on the other hand, attributed significantly higher self-monitoring to both liked and disliked others than to themselves. There was a significant difference between the actual self-perceptions of high and low self-monitors on nearly half of the 20 rating scales, yet only a few significant differences in the ideal self-perceptions of the two groups.

Actual and Ideal Self-Perceptions of Creative Students

49 students selected as “highly creative” on the basis of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking did not appear to value highly in the assessment of themselves and their ideal selves such cultural and literary stereotypes of creative people as impulsivity, desire for change and non-conformity, valuing instead qualities such as obedience, diligence, attentiveness and co-operation.