Perceived Age and Attitudes Towards Individual External Appearance in Adults with Various Severity of the Big Five and Dark Triad Components

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Keywords

age
age perception
perceived age
social perception
external appearance
attitude towards external appearance
years saved
aging
Big Five
Dark Triad

Abstract

Introduction. This study represents the first attempt to examine the severity of the Big Five and Dark Triad components of a perceived person as factors of his/her perceived age and attitude towards his/her appearance. Methods. These were (a) the Procedure of Photo-video Presentation of Outward Appearance by T. A. Vorontsova (Shkurko, 2018); (b) the questionnaire for Individuals’ Evaluative and Meaningful Interpretation of Their Own External Appearance and Its Compliance with Gender and Age Constructs by V. A. Labunskaya; (c) the Five-factor Personality Questionnaire by H. Tsuji modified by A. B. Khromov; and (d) the Short Dark Triad inventory modified by M. Egorova, M. Sitnikova, and O. Parshikova. The study sample comprised 103 participants (65 women, 38 men) aged 18 to 77 years (M = 34.14) as objects of perception; 36 participants (29 women, 7 men) aged 21 to 65 years (M = 39.11) were subjects of perception (‘evaluators’). Results. Attitudes towards individual external appearance and ‘years saved’ (chronological age minus perceived age) have certain associations with the severity of the Big Five and Dark Triad components of the objects of perception, which are mediated by their belonging to the ‘young’ / ‘mature’ age subgroups. Age dynamics of attitudes towards individual external appearance was also discovered. The findings from this study suggest that there is a significant contribution of the severity of the Dark Triad components (narcissism, psychopathy) on a positive attitude towards external appearance at the age of maturity. Discussion. The research expands existing scientific ideas of psychological factors of perceived age and of complex relationships between attitudes towards individual external appearance and the severity of the Big Five and Dark Triad components in adults.

https://doi.org/10.21702/rpj.2022.1.13
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