Female and Male Ratings of Upper Torso: Actual, Ideal, and Stereotypical Conceptions

Using a measure of body image consisting of schematic figures of males and females differing only in chest/breast (CB) size, 73 female and 57 male undergraduates estimated their own CB size, selected their ideal conception of CB, and rated the size they thought reflected the average male\u27s and female\u27s preference for CB. Ss also made ratings based on the size that they thought best characterized descriptors of the figures. Overall, findings reflected a bias for large CB sizes. Both S groups rated their own CB size as significantly smaller than all other ratings. Men\u27s conception of an ideal breast was larger than women\u27s conception. Both genders said that the average male prefers a larger chest and breast than does the average female. Positive descriptors were consistently associated with larger size ratings