The Ugly Truth: How Appearance Affects Our Lives. Appearance of a person

People appreciate it almost instantly, at the subconscious level. But how important is this assessment? Everyone knows that the first impression of a person greatly affects the development of relations between these people in the future. You can only make a first impression once, which is why we try so hard to look good at parties, corporate events and other places where you can meet strangers. Mostly women try to look good, although this is not a rule, but rather a trend. It's just that women show this somewhat opening. After all, ladies have always been muses, and men have been earners and hunters. So at what age is appearance most important and what is the importance of appearance in our time?

Let's start with children between the ages of three and six. This is the most innocent and cloudless period in life. At this time, there are no problems and worries, you get everything you want from life. The child does not think about public opinion in relation to yourself. He chooses his idols not according to appearance but by the direct relation of this or that person to himself. If you evaluate the value of appearance for a child of this age on a ten-point scale, he will receive a score of 1 point.

Then comes the period from seven to thirteen years. At that time baby goes first time to school. For this period, the beginning of a more or less adult and independent living. Now he has the first peer friends of both sexes, the meaning of appearance for him becomes meaningful. For the first time, he begins to think about himself as an independent person. Appearance begins to excite him more, since he is in society and must look appropriate. But now it is still mainly due to the influence of parents on the child. They try to instill in their child accuracy, cleanliness, love of order. Score 4 points.

Then comes a long period of life of 14-25 years. This period includes teenage years as well as youth. This is probably the most difficult period. human life, although the most striking, memorable, unexpected. During this period, a person forms an opinion about himself, he evaluates the people around him, creates his own life principles or refuses them altogether, there is a reassessment of values, in general, there are global changes in man as a person. During this period, appearance is extremely important. A teenager devotes a lot of time and effort to his appearance, he tries to look perfect. This desire is quite natural, because now he is beginning to be interested in the opposite sex. By the end of this period, as a rule, a person is already a formed and independent personality, but attention to appearance does not decrease. And this attention is quite conscious, a person shows it on his own, he wants to look good for himself. Nowadays, teenagers are very cruel, and therefore, attention is paid to appearance Special attention. Score 9 points.

The next period is 26-45 years. At this time, a person becomes completely independent and independent. As a rule, marriage and the birth of children fall at this stage. Both men and women are less obsessed with their appearance and prefer it inner world person. Also, attention to appearance is reduced due to the fact that a person understands that it is not worth building anyone out of himself and begins to be himself, since a career and a family have already been created. By the end of this stage, a short-lived strong attention to one's appearance reappears (midlife crisis), but it quickly ends. Score 4-5 points.

And last period from 45 years to the end of life. Attention to appearance is minimal, since most people big family, a successful career, they again begin to live only for themselves. They stop attracting attention to themselves by any means, as they have already earned enough respect. Score 2 points.

Thus, the most important appearance in our time for adolescents and young people is due to this attention to hormonal changes in the body, as well as the period of personality formation.

Least of all, appearance excites young children, due to the lack of communication experience. And also older people are not obsessed with it.

Everyone knows the expression: "Meet by clothes and see off by the mind!". Of course, any person makes his first opinion about a new acquaintance in his appearance. First of all, a passerby notices in the people around him what is visible to the naked eye: a person’s attitude towards himself (how a person takes care of himself and his appearance), the level of his culture (how a person behaves in relation to other people, objects), even mood person passing by.

People appreciate it almost instantly, at the subconscious level. But how important is this assessment? Everyone knows that the first impression of a person greatly affects the development of relations between these people in the future. You can only make a first impression once, which is why we try so hard to look good at parties, corporate events, and other places where you might meet strangers. Mostly women try to look good, although this is not a rule, but rather a trend. It's just that women show this somewhat opening. After all, ladies have always been muses, and men have been earners and hunters. So at what age is appearance most important and what is the importance of appearance in our time?

Let's start with children between the ages of three and six. This is the most innocent and cloudless period in life. At this time, there are no problems and worries, you get everything you want from life. The child does not think about public opinion in relation to himself. He chooses his idols not by appearance, but by the direct relationship of this or that person to himself. If you evaluate the value of appearance for a child of this age on a ten-point scale, he will receive a score of 1 point.

Then comes the period from seven to thirteen years. At this time, the child goes to school for the first time. During this period, the beginning of a more or less adult and independent life comes. Now he has the first peer friends of both sexes, the meaning of appearance for him becomes meaningful. For the first time, he begins to think about himself as an independent person. Appearance begins to excite him more, since he is in society and must look appropriate. But now it is still mainly due to the influence of parents on the child. They try to instill in their child accuracy, cleanliness, love of order. Score 4 points.

Then comes a long period of life of 14-25 years. This period includes adolescence, as well as youth. This is probably the most difficult period of human life, although the most vivid, memorable, and unexpected. During this period, a person forms an opinion about himself, he evaluates the people around him, creates his own life principles or refuses them altogether, there is a reassessment of values, in general, global changes occur in a person as a person. During this period, appearance is extremely important. A teenager devotes a lot of time and effort to his appearance, he tries to look perfect. This desire is quite natural, because now he is beginning to be interested in the opposite sex. By the end of this period, as a rule, a person is already a formed and independent personality, but attention to appearance does not decrease. And this attention is quite conscious, a person shows it on his own, he wants to look good for himself. Nowadays, teenagers are very cruel, and therefore special attention is paid to appearance. Score 9 points.

The next period is 26-45 years. At this time, a person becomes completely independent and independent. As a rule, marriage and the birth of children fall at this stage. Both men and women are less obsessed with their appearance and prefer the inner world of a person to her. Also, attention to appearance is reduced due to the fact that a person understands that it is not worth building anyone out of himself and begins to be himself, since a career and a family have already been created. By the end of this stage, a short-lived strong attention to one's appearance reappears (midlife crisis), but it quickly ends. Score 4-5 points.

And the last period from 45 years to the end of life. Attention to appearance is minimal, since most people have a large family, a successful career, they again begin to live only for themselves. They stop attracting attention to themselves by any means, as they have already earned enough respect. Score 2 points.

Thus, the most important appearance in our time for adolescents and young people is due to this attention to hormonal changes in the body, as well as the period of personality formation.

Least of all, appearance excites young children, due to the lack of communication experience. And also older people are not obsessed with it.

Long gone are the days when we paid little attention to the appearance of a person. With the abundance of goods and services that are on the market, everyone can be attractive! This is especially important public people, those who are engaged in business, when applying for a job or meeting ...

First impression about a person depends to a large extent on what does he look like. Here are some numbers...

Everyone knows the proverb that "the clothes meet ...". And almost two-thirds of the Russians surveyed (64 percent) confirmed it, saying that when meeting person's appearance affects their first impression of him. More often than others, respondents living in the capital and big cities(75 and 73 percent respectively).
Those who deny such influence turned out to be 30 percent (in Moscow and large cities - 21 and 23 percent, respectively), and 5 percent found it difficult to answer.

What exactly in the appearance of a person, his appearance determines the first impression of him? Responding to open question about this, respondents primarily (23 percent) noted the importance neatness, grooming:"neatness, cleanliness", "a neatly dressed person", "tidiness, cleanliness, grooming".

Many (15 percent) said that they pay attention to clothes, shoes, manner of dressing: "What kind of clothes is he wearing: Chinese or other, does it match the season and fashion magazines", "the ability to select and combine things in the wardrobe", "style", "the ability to dress with taste."

Nearly one in ten (9 per cent) first of all looks at human eyes:"friendly look", "open look", "eye expression".
O face- his features and expression- said 7 percent of the survey participants: "facial expression", "pretty face", "facial features", "mimicry".
On the hairstyle 3 percent of respondents pay attention: "hair", "how the hairstyle goes." figure and smile they mentioned 1 percent each: "how complex, tall or short", "a kind smile".

Some of the respondents (6 percent) could not single out individual elements of their appearance and said about the appearance of a person in general:"how does a person look in general"; "appearance pleasant"; "together"; "from heels to top"; "a little bit of everything"; "the whole thing"; "the beauty".

A significant part of the respondents among the important components that affect the first impression of a person named qualities that are practically not related to appearance or are related indirectly.
So, oh demeanor, conduct said 9 percent of the respondents, another 8 percent named such characteristics as a culture of speech, moral character, mind.

According to the majority of survey participants (60 percent), the people around them on the street in public places, have mostly ordinary, ordinary appearance.
Half as many respondents (27 percent) said they mostly meet beautiful, attractive people.
Only 5 percent believe that the majority of the people around them are unattractive.

Women who have a beautiful, attractive appearance, life is easier than other representatives of the weaker sex - 39 percent of respondents are sure of this, and 14 percent believe that, on the contrary, it is harder.
Approximately a quarter of respondents (24 percent) are sure that a woman's appearance does not play a special role in how she lives. Almost the same number (23 percent) found it difficult to answer the question.
Relatively men opinions on a similar issue were distributed as follows.
35 percent believe that a man's appearance does not affect how he lives, almost a third of the survey participants (30 percent) found it difficult to assess the impact of this factor on men's lives, 27 percent think that a beautiful appearance makes a man's life easier, and 8 percent think that harder.
Almost half of the respondents (48 percent) say that woman's appearance does not affect her career. But there are also many who see an attractive appearance as an additional plus for a woman who wants to move up the career ladder (38 percent).
However, some (3 percent), on the contrary, believe that female beauty hurts career.
Concerning men, then for their career, according to 64 percent of respondents, appearance does not matter (20 percent said that it is easier for an attractive man to make a career, 3 percent - that it is more difficult, the rest found it difficult to answer).

In order to like the opposite sex It is important for a woman to be visually attractive. This is the opinion of 72 percent of respondents. 23 percent think that it is not important, 5 percent found it difficult to answer.
For men bar is noticeably lower. Only 41 percent of survey participants said that it is important for men to have an attractive appearance in order to succeed with women.
The majority of the Russians we interviewed - 52 percent - believe that has no appearance here is of particular importance.

More than half of the respondents (54 percent) believe that having an attractive appearance is generally more important for women than for men. However, there were also many who noted that external attractiveness in equally important for both men and women (40 percent).
Note that none of the survey participants think that external attractiveness more important for men.

PS: The population survey was conducted on August 9-10 in 44 constituent entities of the Russian Federation in 100 settlements among 1,500 respondents.

Elena VASILIEVA
Illustrations: Roeland FLORIS (Holland) - photo from the Internet.
September 2014
Maastricht (Holland) - Magnitogorsk (Russia)

What do people feel when they look at this girl? Envy, admiration, shame for one's own figure, desire... It all depends on the gender, age, build and character of the one who looks at the picture. Only one thing is similar: almost all (let's consider modern European society) assessments of people will be positive. But usually we don't think about why. The answer seems so obvious! However, not everything is as simple as it seems. So what is behind our appearance?


First of all, appearance is an indicator of health, and, accordingly, our attitude towards ourselves. And to yourself - not only physically, but also spiritually, mentally and morally. A harmonious person who loves and respects himself will never leave his health to the mercy of fate, because the only thing we have in this life is ourselves. A person must learn to love and listen first of all to himself, and only after that will the opportunity open up to love and listen to others. If we take the most famous biblical example, this is Jesus Christ, who, in order to hear inner voice, went into the desert for 40 days.

Appearance is also an indicator of our success in society. What image successful person do you imagine? I'm sure he's well dressed, he's got a leather case full of securities, expensive watch and chic shoes. We think about his character in the second turn. Just wanting to show independence from material wealth, and, accordingly, the canons of an unrighteous society, the saints often neglected good clothes, shoes and other seemingly paramount attributes of appearance.

This implies another meaning - belonging to social groups. Judging by looks only, not by internal reasons, then we can say that the hermits were the first freaks in history. And if you go a little to the east, you can see how important appearance can be - it determines belonging to a certain caste, that is, the stratum of society in which the transition from one social role in another is impossible. And these are not only clothes, but also tattoos, the number of rings on the neck, long fingernails for eastern aristocrats, symbolizing their non-involvement in physical labor etc. Draw a parallel with modern European society - the caste of Businessmen, Metalworkers, Chicks with extended nails, Alternatives, Hipsters ... The only difference is that a person is free to choose every day which caste he belongs to, and whether to relate at all. Of course, if you look like the people you want to like usually look, your chances will certainly increase (sometimes very, very, very much).


Further - the most obvious - by appearance we determine the gender of the interlocutor. I often see half-girls, half-boys on the street (well, or vice versa, you can’t make out) and I wonder how it is possible to comfortably get used to society in such an image. After all, if you are a girl, opportunities for social indulgence open up for you: they will help you carry your suitcase, and they will hold the door, but you never know what else! But the expectations are the same. I was in the store today, buying a cable for a computer and asked if I could figure out the connection myself, to which the man replied: “Well, we don’t know your abilities. I can cook soup, but who will eat it? ask your father or a young man." It would seem, what is so special? But it follows from this that the girl should be able to cook soup, and the guy - to understand the "iron". Well, the experiences modern society. And yet, the correspondence of appearance and gender is an indispensable condition for comfortable communication between people.

Also, appearance is an indicator of our mood, and the inner core, and discipline - both in relation to food, and in relation to sports and other rituals performed with the body and face. This is an indicator of how much we care about the opinions of others about ourselves (all or certain - not so important). Appearance is also a way of self-expression, the most important creation in our life, so it can be quite a good criterion self-esteem.

That is why it is necessary not only to think and comprehend every detail of the wardrobe, every gesture, every step, but also to take active steps so that the external and internal are in harmony.
Good luck, girls!)))

Incredible Facts

Our facial features can both help us and hinder us greatly, and it’s not just about attractiveness. People around you, as a rule, subconsciously evaluate the appearance of the other, based on criteria that you were not aware of.

We only need a few seconds after meeting a person so that we somehow immediately decide for ourselves whether it is worth fearing him, how smart he is, etc.

It may seem incredible, but in many cases the first impression is absolutely accurate. In some others, we are greatly mistaken.

Suppose you have a twin brother or sister, but not an identical one. You have the same upbringing, IQ, same hobbies and education. Both of you are interesting, outgoing and adventurous. You like the same food, and you do sports in the same club.

Influence of appearance

From the point of view of intelligence and spirituality, you are real doubles. The only difference between you is your faces. For example, one of you has a brutal forehead and sharp cheekbones, while the second has wide-open eyes and half-childish features.

How will your lives turn out? Will your paths match? Or else differences in appearance will make you go for different roads? Of course, in different ways. Just by looking at you, others immediately draw certain conclusions about the presence of certain abilities in you, they will understand whether you can be trusted, and they will also see whether you are a performer or a leader.

Such prejudices influence the most important events in a person's life, thereby determining a variety of things: from the state of a bank account to the social circle.

So let's now talk about what people are judged on.

1. If you are outwardly attractive, then others will believe that you are endowed with other positive traits.

There is a phenomenon that psychologists have called the "halo effect", due to which we tend to believe that attractive people have other positive characteristics apart from their good looks. For example, we may think that they are smart or have a high work capacity.

University of Texas psychologist Daniel Hamermesh concluded that beautiful people even earn more.

In one study, a group of students were asked to rate an essay written by a girl they didn't know. As a result, the participants of the experiment were more favorable in assessing the work when they were shown an image. beautiful girl posing as the author. When they were shown a photo of an unattractive girl, or nothing at all, they were less flattering about the essay.

Appearance and fate

2. Your photo will tell people a lot about you.

In 2009, a study was conducted among students at the University of Texas at Austin. They were shown photographs of 123 people. In some of the photographs, people were different expressions faces, and on some they were asked to be impartial, without expressing anything.

As a result, regardless of the facial expression of the person in the photo, the participants in the experiment in more correctly identified the degree of openness, religiosity, conscientiousness, self-confidence and complaisance.

3. Your face will show how aggressive you are.

In 2013, a study showed that men with large cheekbones and broad facial features are carriers of more high level testosterone. Also, these men are more ambitious and aggressive.

4. Your face will tell you how strong you are.

A participant in an experiment conducted in 2015 was shown images of 10 different people, each of which was captured with 5 different facial expressions. Then they were asked to describe these people: how friendly, strong and trustworthy they are.

Not surprisingly, people with happy faces were categorized as trustworthy and friendly, as opposed to people with angry faces. Moreover, people with broad faces were perceived as stronger.

The role of appearance in the fate of a person

5. You can be recorded as criminals only because of your appearance, which will not inspire confidence.

British and Israeli scientists conducted a study in which they asked participants to study photographs of women and men, which were randomly selected from two databases. Volunteers were asked to rate personality traits emotional condition people and their propensity to delinquency.

The photos were sourced from a police database, as well as from a database of actors who were asked to look angry, happy, or even-handed when filming.

The participants in the experiment did not know who was who in the photographs, but they attributed to the criminals those people who looked angry and domineering.

6. Eyes can tell you if you have health problems

The doctor can diagnose all his ailments by the eyes of the patient. For example, red spots on the retina of the eye may well signal that a person has diabetes. When blood sugar levels are high, blood vessels fibers can become blocked, and then swell and burst.

7. The length of a man's fingers is linked to his risk of developing cancer.

Experts have proven that those men whose index finger is much longer than the ring finger are less likely to get prostate cancer.

8. A person’s height can determine the risk of developing certain diseases in him.

Research has shown that low people lower risk of developing cancer, and high - cardiovascular.

Person's appearance

You probably think that you would not perceive the people around you so superficially. But in reality, when we meet a person, we unconsciously evaluate him.

It has been proven that it takes about 40 milliseconds to form our first impression of someone. For comparison: for one blink we need 10 times more time. Moreover, this skill is formed in a person from the very early years: already three-four-year-old children, based on appearance, are in a hurry to draw a conclusion about who is bad and who is good.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with these superficial judgments, provided that, on the whole, they correspond to reality. Reasonable grain in them really is.

For example, a group of French scientists recently conducted an experiment during which volunteers played an economic game. Everyone was given a few euros, and everyone had to decide for themselves whether to invest in other players or not.