Attitudes Toward Cosmetic Surgery Patients: The Role of Culture and Social Contact

• Published in: The Journal of social psychology Vol. 152; no. 4; pp. 458 - 479
• Main Authors: Tam, Kim-Pong, Ng, Henry Kin-Shing, Kim, Young-Hoon, Yeung, Victoria Wai-Lan, Cheung, Francis Yue-Lok
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA Taylor & Francis Group 01.07.2012; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Attitude; Attitudes; Behavior. Attitude; Biological and medical sciences; Blood substitutes; Cosmetic surgery; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Culture; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hong Kong; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Japan; Male; Mental health; Motivation; Patients; Plastic surgery; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures; social contact; Social Desirability; Social Distance; Social interaction; Social psychology; Social Values; stereotype; Stereotyping; Students - psychology; United States; Young Adult; Hong Kong; Asia; United States; China; Japan; America; North America; Hong Kong China; United States > US; Social environment; Human; cosmetic surgery; Crosscultural study; Attitude; attitudes; culture; Aesthetic surgery; Stereotype; social contact; Judgment
• ISSN: 0022-4545; 1940-1183
• DOI: 10.1080/00224545.2011.637997

Cosmetic surgery is increasingly popular globally, but how cosmetic surgery patients are socially evaluated is largely unknown. The present research documents attitudes toward these patients in multiple cultures (Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States). Across these cultures, attitudes toward cosmetic surgery patients were predominantly negative: Participants ascribed more negative attributes to cosmetic surgery patients and found cosmetic surgery not acceptable. Also, participants in Hong Kong and Japan were not willing to form social relationships, particularly intimate ones, with these patients. These attitudes were less negative in the United States than in Hong Kong and Japan, partly because social contact, which reduced negativity in attitudes toward cosmetic surgery patients, was more prevalent in the United States. These findings bear important implications for the subjective well-being of cosmetic surgery patients, who very often expect improvement in their social relationships through the surgery.