Effect of makeup on the users and third parties' perceptions and behaviors

• Grant number: 18/16370-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2019
• End date: February 28, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Jaroslava Varella Valentova
• Grantee: Anthonieta Looman Mafra
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Changes in appearance may influence personal life (e.g. self-esteem), sexuality (e.g. access to desirable partners) and social sphere (e.g. perceived prestige in others). Compared to faces without make-up, women with make-up are rated as more attractive, competent, and dominant. As make-up in women is commonly aimed at highlighting feminine attributes, women tend to use make-up especially when they perceive greater competition, which often results in a rampant quest for beauty and creates psychic suffering. To investigate the effects of make-up on women more profoundly, the project was divided into three phases in which we intend to investigate: I. interindividual differences (e.g. personality) related to the makeup use in women; II. make-up influence on women's self-perception and non-verbal behavior during application of different levels of makeup; and III. Third parties' perception of stimuli (facial photographs and videos) with different levels of make-up. Besides adding to a small number of studies that focus on this topic within evolutionary psychology and ethology, we will verify if self-esteem, intrasexual competition, among other characteristics, are associated with makeup use. Such results can serve as a basis for influencing women's lives through elucidations about the influence of makeup on women's behavioral and psychological aspects and campaigns encouraging natural beauty.

Scientific publications

(5)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MAFRA, ANTHONIETA LOOMAN; CORREA VARELLA, MARCO ANTONIO; DEFELIPE, RENATA PEREIRA; ANCHIETA, NATALIA MACHADO; GRECCO DE ALMEIDA, CAROLINE APARECIDA; VALENTOVA, JAROSLAVA VARELLA. Makeup usage in women as a tactic to attract mates and compete with rivals. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, v. 163, SEP 1 2020. (18/16370-5)

MAFRA, ANTHONIETA LOOMAN; DEFELIPE, RENATA PEREIRA; CORREA VARELLA, MARCO ANTONIO; TOWNSEND, JOHN M.; VALENTOVA, JAROSLAVA VARELLA. Mate value, intrasexual competition and sociosexual desire drive Brazilian women's well-being. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES, v. 3, p. 14-pg., 2021-03-10. (18/16370-5)

MAFRA, ANTHONIETA LOOMAN; SILVA, CAIO S. A.; VARELLA, MARCO A. C.; VALENTOVA, JAROSLAVA V.. The contrasting effects of body image and self-esteem in the makeup usage. PLoS One, v. 17, n. 3, p. 11-pg., 2022-01-01. (18/16370-5)

VALENTOVA, JAROSLAVA VARELLA; MAFRA, ANTHONIETA LOOMAN; VARELLA, MARCO ANTONIO CORREA. Enhancing the Evolutionary Science of Self-Presentation Modification. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, v. 51, n. 1, p. 6-pg., 2021-03-18. (18/16370-5)

ANCHIETA, NATALIA MACHADO; MAFRA, ANTHONIETA LOOMAN; HOKAMA, ROBERTA TOKUMORI; CORREA VARELLA, MARCO ANTONIO; MELO, JAILSON DE ALMEIDA; DA SILVA, LUANA OLIVEIRA; ALVES DA SILVA, CAIO SANTOS; VALENTOVA, JAROSLAVA VARELLA. Makeup and Its Application Simulation Affect Women's Self-Perceptions. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, v. 50, n. 8, NOV 2021. (18/16370-5)