Trends in the Study of Attitudes to Appearance from the Point of View of Applied Social Psychology

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Abstract

Objective. The review article aims to consider from the point of view of applied social psychology the phenomenon of perception, evaluation, self-esteem, concern, satisfaction with the appearance, perfectionist attitude to it and to highlight trends, directions of their study. Background. Applied and practical importance of the psychology of the appearance predetermined the accumulation of a huge amount of empirical data and the development of a number of theoretical directions. The current comparison of trends in the development of domestic and foreign psychology of the appearance, the search for directions uniting them. The article consists of three subsections, taking into account the components of the appearance, the dynamics of the attitude to appearance in accordance with the context of interaction andolfactory determinism. Methodology. An interdisciplinary approach; review and analysis of trends in the study of attitudes to appearance. Conclusions. The interdisciplinary status of the external appearance determines a wide range of research areas. The trend of studying individual components of the appearance of their perception, evaluation, self-assessment, influence on concern, satisfaction with the appearance prevails. In domestic research, the development of trends that have developed in the world psychology is carried out. Modern trends are the consideration of a holistic external appearance in different contexts of interaction, the systematization and modeling of a set of factors that determine the attitude to appearance, and its study taking into account the tasks of applied psychology.

General Information

Keywords: social psychology, trends, research directions, applied psychology, interaction contexts, appearance, attitude to appearance, determinants, olfactory model, life satisfaction

Journal rubric: Theoretical Research

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2021120309

Funding. The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 20-113-50411 (Expansion).

For citation: Labunskaya V.A. Trends in the Study of Attitudes to Appearance from the Point of View of Applied Social Psychology . Sotsial'naya psikhologiya i obshchestvo = Social Psychology and Society, 2021. Vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 128–150. DOI: 10.17759/sps.2021120309. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Vera A. Labunskaya, Doctor of Psychology, Professor of the Department of Social Psychology of the Academy of Psychology and Pedagogy, Southern Federal University, Scientific director of the scientific and educational laboratory "Social psychology of appearance" APP SFU. Deputy Chairman of the Dissertation Council at the SFU., Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8901-8773, e-mail: vlab@aaanet.ru

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