The Influence of the Holistic Appearance Design on the Perceived Age of Women

Abstract

Objectives. To study the influence of the holistic design of appearance on the perceived age of women. Background. The perceived age is interpreted as the age of a person attributed to him by the perceiving subject based on the perception of his appearance. There are a number of studies that study the influence of individual elements of appearance design on perceived age, while the contribution of its holistic design to perceived age has not been studied. The work is based on a socio-psychological approach to the appearance of V.A. Labunskaya. Study design. Photo images of women (“models”) before and after the holistic appearance design were presented to the subjects of perception to assess their age. The obtained data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U-test, Wilcoxon T-test, and linear regression analysis. Participants. The “models” were 72 women (22—89 years old); the “appraisers” were 35 women and 16 men (18—79 years old). Measurements. The procedure of “Photo-visual presentation of appearance” by T.A. Vorontsova; the questionnaire “Your ideas about your own age” by T.A. Vorontsova; the questionnaire “Attitude to your appearance: satisfaction and concern” by V.A. Labunskaya, E.V. Kapitanova. Results. 1) The holistic design of the external appearance influenced perceived age of 78% of women-respondents; 2) in 53% of them perceived age was decreased and in 25% it was increased; 3) the perceived age of women is influenced by their age and height as well as the personal characteristics of “evaluators”; 4) “edge” age of women, changing “the effect of rejuvenation” from aging to anti-aging is 36 years. Conclusions. The holistic design of women’s appearance affects their perceived age. The main trend of this influence is rejuvenation. The “rejuvenation effect” of a woman as a result of a holistic design of her appearance depends on her age.