How Do Appearances Effect Personality?

 Investigation

Most people wonder what the definition of confidence is. My definition of confidence is the belief in oneself and one’s powers or abilities. Confidence from the online dictionary is defined as the behavior of being certain with actions without having a bias, also known as believing in oneself. Areas in which confidence can be used in are: working, within a society, communication, and in relationships. When working, a person would use their ability to stand up for their beliefs and carry out goals, thus the ability to stand up for their beliefs is confidence. Within a society, a person’s ability to come forth and become part of a network of people with their own unique character is also considered confidence, because of their ability to be their own unique self. With communication, the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong when speaking with another person is considered confidence because it is the ability to make decisions without a bias. In a relationship, the ability to make decisions without having outside biases is an act of confidence, because of making unbiased decisions.
            The definition of appearance from the online dictionary is whatever is perceived from looking at a person or object. Appearance based on looking at a person is broken down into four main categories, culture, personality, the media, and beauty.
            Culture is affected by the early environment that nurtures procedural memory and the use of cultural tools. The case studies of Grigsby ad David Stevens (2000) and Grigsby and Hartlaub (1994) provide evidence that a person’s character, which creates their personality and habits, is procedurally learned. Procedural memory is a combination of motor skills, perceptual abilities, cognitive skills, and relationships with other humans. Procedural memory is non-verbal and it is created based on one’s experiences. Based on the case studies, Professor Holland concluded that procedural memory involves the human’s emotional defenses and adaptations. These mechanisms help define our ways of relating inner and outer reality, constructing a person’s unique styles. Procedural memories that dictate a person’s character are established by early relationships with caregivers. For example, an infant’s personality will be dictated based on how they were raised; therefore researchers have found that procedurally learned processes regulate one’s behavior. Based on research, psychologist Lev Vgotsky concluded that “A mind cannot be independent of culture”. Therefore, he is trying to explain that every little thing that we use in day-to-day life shouldn’t be taken for granted, because they help make us who we are. For example: language, your car, your ability to access a computer, running water, toilet paper, birth control, your ability to vote in a democracy, and your knowledge are essential necessities that create your pool of cultural tools. These are considered cultural tools unique to us, because they help construct our culture; however they don’t help construct another society’s culture. For example, a tribe in Africa doesn’t know how to drive a car, access a computer, use running water, toilet paper, or etc; therefore these cultural tools aren’t unique to them.
            Personality is a set of characteristics that influence a behavior or action. From Markman’s study, personality is defined as a set of characteristics that usually influences one’s behavior that could be different based on the situation. For example, a friend who is said to be aggressive may be prone to make arguments. Therefore, at a basketball game, they may argue about the fouls being made against their rooting team, however, if the aggressive friend is being lectured by a teacher, they would most likely be passive with their emotions. This supports the fact that a person’s behavior depends both on their personality and the situation they are put in. From Dr. Vivian Diller’s study, a person’s personality reflects whether or not a person takes the advantage of having cosmetic procedures. She came up with the acronym S.A.F.E. to simply four issues of personality relating to cosmetic procedures. S.A.F.E. stands for safety, affordability, for whom, and expectations. Safety is almost a common sense factor when considering cosmetic procedures; however, some women are still uncertain about having the most basic procedures done. Women are sometimes uncertain about having the basic procedures because their personality dictates their behavior. For example, an ambitious woman wouldn’t hesitate about wanting to have procedures done, because she knows that the procedures would help benefit her ambition. A passive woman would most likely be dictated by friends or magazines, because they are usually considered a follower-type woman, therefore she may do research on the safety before actually getting the procedures done. This supports the concept that, a person’s personality dictates whether or not they would think about the safety regarding their cosmetic practices. The factor of affordability is important, because money usage is also a subset of personality. While a spendthrift, ambitious woman wouldn’t care about the price on procedures, a conservative woman would try to compare the prices before carrying out the procedures based on quality and pricing. Therefore, a woman’s personality dictates whether they can afford a procedure or not. For whom is the third issue and it addresses the self-realization of who the individual is doing the procedures for. Some passive women have the cosmetic procedures done, because they were persuaded to try it by someone else, while other women; who are ambitious, decide for themselves. Thus, the woman’s personality effects whether or not they would agree to having cosmetic procedures. The last issue of expectation addresses a person’s limits. For example, a woman who has a high expectation personality would have high expectations in their image, therefore they might have countless procedures done to try and improve their image. A person with lower expectations that was persuaded to try the cosmetic procedures might only have one or two procedures done, because their personality dictates their limits. Therefore, a person’s personality also dictates their expectation of what they can or cannot do, and how far they would go if they do submit to a procedure.
            Media is defined by the online dictionary as the means of communication. From Etcoff’s study, the media often displays surreal images of women which often make females dissatisfied with their weight and appearances. From Kennedy’s study, in the last few decades technology has made many advances which introduced a revolution in communication. As of modern times, communication is composed of the world wide web, chat rooms, emailing, online shopping, cell phones, internet gambling, internet pornography, Myspace, Facebook, texting, sexting, tweeting, i-pods, Google, Yahoo, E-Harmony, all the way to match.com and gaming systems; these are what we use in our everyday lives. These tools that are used in everyday life are trusted as reliable sources to most people. Therefore, evidence in studies suggest that as people engage in the technological world, they learn about difference cultures, personalities, ideas and thoughts; these compose their self-identity (Cultural Tools). This creates a wall of bias of personal thought; therefore it could be positive or negative depending on how the person perceives the information. From Jkim’s study, people who view the youthful images in the media are actually viewing the media’s altered view of images that are specifically controlled to only broadcast the ideal models of society. These altered images, establish a means of ideal models, because they only broadcast the most defined, attractive, talented images of youth culture. Older generations try to emulate this broadcasted youth culture in order to keep updated with modern society, by buying clothes and other commercially broadcasted items that are considered modern style.
            Beauty from the online dictionary is defined as the quality that is presented in a thing or a person that gives intense pleasure of deep satisfaction to the mind, which usually arises from sensory manifestations. From Etcoff’s study, beauty dictates who you will end up having your offspring with. There are four pillars of timeless beauty: clarity, symmetry, harmony, and vivid color. Clarity is defined as having unblemished skin. Symmetry is defined as having a perfect balance of facial features. Harmony is defined as having all facial features proportional to each other. Vivid color is defined as having a vibrant, healthy glow from the skin. To have all four pillars in sync with each other creates rarity. Rarity of beauty can give certain advantages in a person’s life. Rare beauty is absolutely powerful; it attracts other people like magnets and metals. Attractive people are usually given better care in reality. For example, in a movie’s cast, the directors usually pick the most beautiful people over the people who have more experience and more talent, because the image of rarity presents a specialized stimulus to a person’s reward circuitry in the brain, thus it is considered more desired. A person’s beauty is sometimes viewed in vain if they are looking at themselves in a mirror when others are around. However, a person doesn’t always look in the mirror to see how good looking they are, but rather they look in the mirror to see how they appear to others. People know that for every second they encounter another person; when they exchange looks, they are being judged on their appearance. This can be done by men, women, or both. Every individual has the possibility to be defined as beautiful, but the first step in order to acquire the realization is to believe in oneself. Make up on an individual can make a temporary effect of beauty enhancement on their appearance. A person who is short can temporarily wear heightened shoes in order to increase their height. A person can wear contact lenses to temporarily change their eye color to match their desire. However, once these things are removed, a person has to understand that these effects don’t change who they truly are. Therefore, once a person realizes that they can’t change who they truly are, beauty will come from their realization.
            Beauty in different cultures is viewed similar and different in many ways, however plastic surgery is viewed the same. Thus, from Etcoff’s study, there is an increase in the number of men and women wanting plastic surgery done in the past 10 years, most likely because of the competition of working conditions involving office men and women of older ages working with younger people. From Etcoff’s study, in America, a man with a nice body usually has a waist to hip ratio of 9/10 while a female has a nice body if she has a waist to hip ratio of 7/10. This is an average ratio based on Etcoff’s survey of different opinions from males and females. If the waist thickens or becomes too thick, it may be a sign of bad health, or aging, thus, a waist too thick is least desired. Women tend to look at men longer before making a decision of attraction, because they typically try to infer a personality trait with their appearance. For example, if a woman looks at a muscular man, she may associate ambition to the muscular man. Men tend to take less time when making a decision of attraction of women, because they don’t usually associate a personality trait with an appearance. For example, a man looking at a group of girls with one gorgeous girl and two decent-looking girls would most likely talk to the gorgeous girl first, even if she wasn’t as friendly as the other girls. From Goodwin’s study, Japanese women are associated with the feminine geishas. A geisha has a whitened face, and is properly trained to do entertainment. Thus, a whitened face may be viewed as attractive in Japan; however in America a tanned face is more attractive. Japanese men are associated with honor and masculinity, thus an attractive man would be strong like a warrior, and absolutely confident. This is typically the ideal in Japan, however in America; women tend to like a man’s personality over their masculinity.