Our Social Perception of Beauty in America All girls in America can remember watching the movie Beauty and the Beast by Walt Disney. At that time it was a story of love and triumph, a girl falls in love and wins her prince charming. As we get older, we question that movie and its intentions that we were too young to understand. Who is the true beauty and who is the true beast? A disconcerting question because our society constantly tells us how we must look and be perceived in order to be less “the beast” and more “the beauty”. IS BEAUTIFUL ALWAYS GOOD? IMPLICIT BENEFITS OF FACIAL ATTRACTIVITY by Van Leeuwen and Macrae conducted a study that discusses the implications of attractiveness and whether we associate it with positive or negative words. 20 women and 16 men at Dartmouth College were presented with a series of words and a picture of an attractive or unattractive person in the background. The researchers found that attractive faces triggered a positive reaction that demonstrated to them the stereotypical social perception that “beautiful is good.” This last possibility is theoretically important because, if true, it suggests that the “beautiful is good” stereotype may covertly shape people's evaluations of others.” (Beautiful is always good) Participants associated more positive words with more attractive people which describe the socialization we have in America that being beautiful is more acceptable and positive. Many social aspects come into play when talking about beauty and why we think “being beautiful is beautiful”. Social media plays an important role in America and the role beauty plays in our daily lives. Girls are exposed every day to magazines, bil...... half of paper...... ps it's good because they associate beautiful models with having a gap. Many covers and images are photographed with gaps between the thighs, the less the thighs touch, the better they appear, a message that once again alters the perception of beauty. Specialists say that achieving the so-called "thigh gap" is risky and practically impossible. "(USA Today) Girls are now asking boys if they like girls with thigh gaps, a question I find troubling. I don't understand how America invented these new concepts that destroy girls' minds and add to their pressure. Reaching a gap between the thighs is like a gateway drug to eating disorders. Our social perception of beauty is turning into an unattainable point; girls and boys are being tricked into believing that this is what it means to be beautiful study conducted in 2005, researchers wanted to learn about memory and beauty.