The effects of tv viewing on skin tone preferences has been observed in rural Nicaragua. TV encouraged a preference for lighter-skinned faces.
Cultural representations, particularly in visual media, are shown to influence perceptions of physical beauty. Preferences for slimmer bodies and paler faces are shaped through media exposure rather than being inherent. The responsibility lies with viewers to critically evaluate the ideals presented on television.
For over a decade, an international research team has explored the effects of electrification and television access in rural Nicaraguan villages. Findings by psychologists Lynda Boothroyd, Jean-Luc Jucker, and colleagues revealed that increased access to television, facilitated by electrification, correlated with a preference for slimmer female bodies, likely influenced by positive portrayals of slimmer women in news programs and telenovelas (Latin American soap operas).
The relationship between television exposure and skin tone preferences was examined (Jucker et al., 2024). The hypothesis suggested that higher levels of TV consumption would correspond to a preference for lighter-skinned faces over darker-skinned ones.
The Study
To investigate, 192 villagers from rural Nicaragua and 40 residents from Managua, the national capital, participated. Ages ranged from 15 to 78, with 55 percent identifying as female.
Participants provided individual data, including last year’s income, years of schooling, access to television, and hours of TV watched in the previous week. A facial preference task was conducted in a quiet setting, using a laptop to display 20 pairs of male faces and 20 pairs of female faces in random order. Each pair included one lighter-skinned face and one darker-skinned face. Participants selected the face they found more attractive or appealing. The distinction in skin tone, while noticeable, was subtle.
The findings were clear. A general preference for lighter-skinned faces over darker-skinned faces was observed among participants. Those with higher levels of education displayed a slightly stronger preference for lighter-skinned faces compared to those with less education. Additionally, individuals with greater television exposure showed a marginally stronger preference for lighter-skinned female faces than those with minimal or no exposure to television.
In Nicaragua, lighter skin is often associated with European (typically Spanish) ancestry, while darker skin is linked to indigenous (Miskitu Indian) ancestry. Notably, the rural participants in this study, primarily Miskitu or Mestizo (mixed heritage), did not consistently favor individuals with similar features. Instead, a tendency to prefer faces lighter than their own was evident.
These results align with conclusions from cross-national studies involving diverse cultural groups. Cultural representations, particularly in visual media, have been shown to influence perceptions and standards of physical beauty. Preferences for slimmer female bodies and lighter skin are not inherent but are shaped through repeated exposure to specific media images.
Rather than serving as an objective window to the world, television portrays a constructed reality. The task remains to critically assess the desirability of the world presented in such media.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221241232674
Abstract
Both basic visual experience and cultural associations with race and ethnicity may contribute to the extent observers do or do not favor some facial ethnicity cues over others. Given that visual media contain a highly biased selection of faces, with Whiteness both over-represented and strongly privileged in film and television, communities for whom visual media are relatively novel may experience an additional, pervasive source of attitudes to facial ethnicity markers. In the current research, we compared individuals of Mestizo and Miskitu identities living in communities on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua with, and without, regular access to television on their relative preference for facial stimuli manipulated to look more or less White (Black vs White, Black vs Mestizo, Mestizo vs White). Results showed that all communities showed an overall preference for images with lighter skin, although changes in facial shape did not affect preferences. Those who had attended more years of education preferred whiter faces than those with less education, and those who watched more television preferred whiter faces more only where color (rather than shape) had been manipulated. Results are discussed in terms of the broader relations around ethnicity, status, and technological transition in this area.
