Scientists from the National Research University Higher School of Economics have calculated that people all over the world devote an average of 4 hours a day to beauty, regardless of gender and age. This was reported to socialbites.ca at the Higher School of Economics.
According to the authors of the study, a person watches his appearance because of the desire to find a mate for the birth of healthy offspring: beauty is a sign of health and good heredity, therefore, appearance becomes one of the main selection criteria. There is also a theory that representatives of countries with dangerous infections pay more attention to their appearance than others, in order to hide possible traces of the disease. In addition, the desire to be beautiful may be due to sociocultural characteristics: gender inequality, culture of individualism.
“In this study, we tested five existing theories that help us understand our relationship to human attractiveness. These theories are complementary, not exclusive of one. In some cases, our assumptions were confirmed, and somewhere we got interesting and unexpected results. This will allow us to better understand human psychology and attitudes towards beauty.” It is an important step in the field of evolutionary and sociocultural research,” said the National Research University School of Economics.
The authors surveyed more than 93,000 people from 93 countries how much they care about their looks. To date, this is the largest work in the field of beauty. The results of the survey showed that men and women care almost equally about their appearance: both spend about 4 hours a day to restore beauty. These hours include not only the choice of make-up, hairstyle and clothes, but also sports, proper nutrition, personal hygiene. In addition, it turns out that older people care almost as much about looks as younger people. Those who are new to a romantic relationship spend more time on their looks than those who are married or dating a long-term partner.
Not surprisingly, women in countries with gender inequality place more emphasis on appearance; the same thing happens in countries and cultures where the traditional idea of women as guardians of the home dominates. Individualistic cultures also encourage people to pay more attention to their appearance than collectivist cultures. According to research, the strongest influence on the desire to look good is social networks.