A Study Based on Gender and Time Spent on Personal Grooming

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Time spent on personal grooming is an investment into one’s appearance. Both men and women spent time and money in looking better. However, more women compared to men are concern about their physical appearance. In this study, we observed whether there was a significant difference between gender and the time spent on personal grooming. Seventeen undergraduate students from an experimental psychology course (6 males, 11 females) volunteered to participate in this study. A survey was given to the participants. The survey consisted of questions regarding the time participants allotted for grooming on a daily basis. They were asked to provide approximations of time they took to groom in minutes. Using an independent t test significant differences were observed between times spent on personal grooming and gender. Results for female grooming were t (14) =2.45, p=.027and for male grooming t (14) = 3.14, p=.008.Therefore, the results did support our hypotheses that women take a much longer time to groom themselves than men. Based on previous research women are more concern about their physical appearance because being young and beautiful is essential for attracting the opposite sex.

Altering one’s Physical Looks: A Study Based on Gender and Time Spent on Personal Grooming
Personal grooming habits such as showering, bathing, selecting clothes, dressing, applying make-up and shaving is both time consuming and socially valuable. Wax (1957) defines grooming as the “manipulation of one’s superficial physical structure so as to make a desired impression upon others.” (Wax, 1957, p.588) Time spent on personal grooming is an investment into one’s appearance. Both men and women spent time and money in looking better.
It is a popular belief tha...

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...gh our hypothesis was supported, some factors may have limited our results. First, our sample size was too small and may have affected the data. When our sample size is small, there will be a lack of representation of subjects in our data and results. A second factor that may have affected the results was the wording of the questionnaire. Some students didn’t understand what was being asked of them. Many participants may have known the correct answer to the questions, but they didn’t give us the correct answers. This is known as the social desirability bias. Participants don’t give the experimenter the correct information because in many cases many topics are sensitive to many participants.
A promising direction for future research could be to explore biases in the work place, we could see if better looking persons are treated better than less attractive persons.

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