Keep brushing on that blush and applying that lipstick ladies! Recent research reveals that facial make-up elicits positive implicit attitudes.
For some women, makeup is a form of creative expression, for others it is simply a product used to conceal under-eye circles after a late night. For generations, cosmetics have been utilized by soccer moms and supermodels alike for various purposes, including enhancing or maintaining one’s attractive appearance. Accordingly, it seems that facial cosmetic use must influence, to some extent, people’s impressions and opinions of others.
A few years ago, Juliette Richetin and Pascal Huguet (2004) conducted three experiments in an effort to determine the true correlation between makeup use and implicit attitudes. The participants included 98 undergraduate college students, consisting of 76 females and 22 males. The experimenters implemented three IATs that used photographs of females wearing and not wearing makeup. These images were combined with pleasant and unpleasant terms, positive and negative personality traits, and words related to high- and low-status professions. In this way, the participants’ implicit attitudes toward makeup could be determined.
After analyzing the results of the IATs, the experimenters realized that, overall, makeup use elicited positive implicit attitudes and responses. Participants more often attributed positive traits and qualities with the images of the women wearing makeup. This evidence, combined with results from previous studies, also reveals that the application of the makeup plays a significant role in resulting perceptions. For example, heavy make-up application often elicits negative reactions. Therefore, it is evident that variations in the amount and application of the makeup play a key role in the type of attitude generated. As the research reveals, facial makeup is yet another attribute that affects the non-conscious evaluative attitudes we form of others.
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