The notion that women are more concerned about their appearance than men are is a myth.
At least that`s the word from Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, Pa., where a study determined that both sexes take a mental inventory of 15 to 17 personal physical attributes when judging how good they look in comparison to others.
The numerical similarity indicates that ”The stereotype that women are much more concerned about physical attractiveness is not true,” says T. Joel Wade, assistant professor of psychology, who conducted the study.
The chin and ears were among the most important features listed by men in evaluating their personal attractiveness. Those features were not even on the lists of female concerns. Hips and thighs were cited as the key physical attributes women respondents analyzed in judging their personal appearance. Those features were of little or no concern to the men.
The study of 229 predominately white, middle-income subjects is part of Wade`s on-going research on how perceived attractiveness affects self-esteem. His previous work indicates that attractiveness is the No. 1 predictor of self-esteem among teenagers and young adults, beating out some 290 other variables such as popularity, grades and athletic ability.
”Attractiveness is powerful,” Wade said. ”You realize a benefit in our society if you are attractive.” Plus, ”There are a number of studies that show most people are pretty good judges of how attractive they are.