What is it about?
This study investigated how social media exposure to different kind of cosmetics products affects women's future purchasing intentions and behaviours. Women differ in how much they tend to see themselves as in competition with other women. We also investigated how this tendency impacted cosmetics purchasing intentions and behaviours. We observed that women exposed to luxury cosmetics were more likely to subsequently purchase luxury cosmetics in a hypothetical purchasing task. We also observed that women who see themselves as in competition with other women, were also more likely to purchase luxury cosmetics, than women who did not see themselves this way.
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Why is it important?
This research helps us understand the motivations for women's cosmetics use. It looks beyond outdated notions of women's cosmetics use being the result of either extrinsic cultural pressures or a desire to impress men, and investigates women's own intrinsic motives for cosmetics use.
Perspectives
There is growing evidence that the primary social motivators for female cosmetics use are same-sex social interactions. The impact that make-up has on how other women perceive a woman, seems to have a much greater impact on her make-up use than how it might affect the way men view her. More research is needed to understand how make-up use impacts same-sex interactions, which seem far more complex than simple appearance enhancement.
Danielle SULIKOWSKI
Charles Sturt University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The impact of sexual strategies, social comparison, and Instagram use on makeup purchasing intentions., Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, February 2022, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/ebs0000285.
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