Abstract
A qualitative cross-cultural comparison of native Japanese and Caucasian American women was used to examine whether the women critically processed magazine images differently. Four focus groups were used to generate data (n = 19). The data analysis revealed that the native Japanese women viewed magazine images holistically, whereas the Caucasian American participants processed images of fashion analytically. Implications of differences are discussed with analytic versus holistic thinking and traditional beauty ideals in Japanese and Caucasian American cultures.