1. Sarah Scott Hanover College
Influence of Cosmetics on the Confidence of College Women: An Exploratory Study
Sarah Scott
Hanover College

2. Background
Historically, research on women’s self-esteem has been focused on body image
“A number of experimental studies have found that exposure to images of physically attractive women may indeed have detrimental effects on self-evaluation.” (Trampe, Stapel, & Siero, 2007)
Women’s confidence linked to their feelings about physical appearance

3. General issues
Self is invoked through appearance practices (LaBelle, 1988)
Mark of womanhood and femininity (Beausoleil, 1992; Peiss, 1990)
Enhances social interactions (Miller & Cox, 1982)
Illusion; looks can be altered per situation
Media influence and societal/cultural standards of beauty (Kelson, Kearney-Cooke, & Lansky, 1990)

4. “Women who are beautiful or who achieve beauty according to the imposed standards are rewarded; those who cannot or choose not to be beautiful are punished, economically and socially.” –Naomi Wolf

5. How it makes them feel
Wearing more makeup has been positively correlated with women’s public self-consciousness (Miller & Cox, 1982)
Cosmetics allow women to feel better about themselves (Cash, 1987, 1988)
Self-esteem increases (Wright et al., 1970)

6. Research Question
Does the presence of makeup and the extent to which it is applied affect a woman’s confidence in a given situation?
Specifically, do women match their make-up to situations?

7. Participants 4 women attending a small Midwestern liberal arts college
2 freshmen and 2 juniors
Ages 19-20
All Caucasian

8. Materials Consent and debriefing form
Revised version of Cash Cosmetics use Inventory (CCUI) (Cash, 1985)

9. Materials Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety survey I felt nervous.
Not at all (+0)
Somewhat (+1)
Moderately so (+2)
Very much so (+3)
10 out of 20 were reverse-scored according to standard procedures
Participants completed one after each situation

10. Materials Use survey developed by researcher
Used to record the situation and style of makeup worn, as well as a series of before questions
e.g. “How do you think your makeup will make you feel today while (circle one) at class/out with friends?”
and questions responded to after the situation
e.g. “Did you receive any comments/reactions from others? If so, please list any you can recall.”

11. Procedure
Participants wore makeup in 3 different ways in 2 actual situations

12. Procedure At the beginning of each week, participants were given:
3 state-trait anxiety surveys
3 before/after surveys
Week 1=class
Week 2=out with girlfriends

13. Influence on Anxiety
Can you add error bars with the std dev or the range? That would help show the variation within each condition.

14. Results Participants felt the need to offset their makeup usage
“I thought that I would feel overdone so I kind of dressed up to compensate.”
Anxiety levels may be due to awareness of action
“I put eyeshadow on which I don’t usually waste my time with.”

15. Conclusions
No significant relationship found between makeup and situation
Anxiety levels may be due to extra thought given to makeup
Participants were made self-aware of actions
“Because I was wearing more makeup, I thought I would attract more attention considering I normally wear minimal makeup”
Put last bullet on new slide and call it future research, you might expand it a bit and also now that you have more room give more to the self-aware – use a quote again, if possible a new one.

16. Future Research This topic deserves further attention
Significant results may be obtained with:
Greater number of participants
Differing method, such as picture study or open-ended survey
More control over amount/type of cosmetics used
Revised cosmetic survey – more specific

17. Any questions/comments??