LONDON: Women who wear heavy makeup are less likely to be thought of as good leaders, a study has found.
For the study published in the journal Perception, participants were asked to view a series of images featuring the same woman without cosmetics and with makeup applied for a “social night out”.
Researchers from Abertay University in the UK used a computer software to manipulate the faces and the amount of makeup was also manipulated in the face images.
Each participant completed a face perception task where they judged sixteen face-pairs, indicating how much better a leader they felt their chosen face to be compared to the other face.
It was found that both men and women evaluated women more negatively as a leader if the image suggested she was wearing a lot of makeup.
“This research follows previous work in this area, which suggests that wearing makeup enhances how dominant a woman looks,” said Christopher Watkins of Abertay University.
“While the previous findings suggest that we are inclined to show some deference to a woman with a good looking face, our new research suggests that makeup does not enhance a woman’s dominance by benefiting how we evaluate her in a leadership role,” said Watkins.
“This work is a good example of the diverse and interesting research ongoing within the Division of Psychology,” he said.
The study used a measurement scale common in face perception research, which calculates the first-impressions of the participant group as a whole, working out an average verdict.
Watkins has carried out previous high-profile studies including work looking at how women remember the faces potential love rivals and the role of traits related to dominance in our choice of allies, colleagues and friends. (AGENCIES)
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