Understanding the Physical Self, Body Image, and Gender Identity

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering the concepts of the physical self, body image, self-esteem, body dysmorphia, beauty standards, and gender identity.

Physical Self

The tangible aspect of the person that can be directly observed or examined.

Appearance

Everything about a person that others can observe.

Body Image

How we perceive, think, and feel about our body and physical appearance.

Self-Esteem

The overall opinion of yourself, encompassing personal worth, value, and confidence in your abilities.

Mental Health

An individual's emotional and psychological well-being.

Cognitive Cascade from Body Image to Mental Health

The psychological progression where negative body image ('There’s something wrong with how I look') lowers self-esteem ('I’m not good enough'), which in turn harms mental health ('I’m a hopeless failure.').

Body Dysmorphia

Intense attention to a perceived or minor flaw in physical appearance that others cannot see or consider insignificant.

Influences of Poor Body Image

Key external factors that degrade body perception: parental expectations and comments, bullying and peer pressure, media (movies, comics, advertisements, music, social media), and Generative Artificial Intelligence.

Concept of Beauty

An attribute valued throughout history and across all societies as an indicator of youth, health, good genes, and fertility (especially for females).

Gender Expression

The external way a person presents their gender and/or sexual orientation to the world, which does not always match their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Gender Identity

A person's internal, deeply held personal sense of being male, female, both, neither, etc.

Assigned Gender (Sex)

The classification of an individual as male or female assigned at birth based on physical characteristics and biological factors such as hormones.

Sexual Orientation

The sexual and/or romantic preference of an individual.

Gender Dysphoria

The distress a person experiences because of an incongruence or mismatch between their gender identity and their assigned sex at birth.

Dysmorphia vs. Dysphoria Distinction

A mnemonic differentiation where 'morph' in dysmorphia refers to shape and physical appearance, whereas 'phoria' in dysphoria refers to emotional state and distress resulting from mismatched gender identity.