The Female Appearance: Game Theory
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201612/why-women-spend-so-much-effort-their-appearance
The article that is referenced here explores the fact that women spend much more time and effort on the appearance than men. Since women spend more time on their looks, the assumption was also made that women care much more about their own appearance than men care about theirs. Based on that assumption, this article proposes the question – why? Why do women care so much more about their appearance than men? In the article, the author also attempts to answer this question, with two explanations – 1. It is socially learned, and derives from the social promotion and marketing of the ideal female image, and 2. It is based on an evolutionary past where women competed over the most desirable men based on their physical attractiveness. The article expands on these two options and also comments on the differences between the two genders when it comes to taking care of one’s appearance.
Taking a closer look at the second reason that the article gives – that females care more about their appearance because it is based in a past where women competed over the most desirable men based on physical appearance – it is possible to apply this to game theory. If a woman has to take care of her appearance, we can assume there are negative consequences with it in that she has to spend the resources, time and effort to do so. In the case that two females are competing against each other for a “desirable man”, if both females are putting the effort into their appearance, neither of them will attract the man any more than the other, and they both equally get no payoff or perhaps even a negative payoff for doing so. On the other hand, if one female puts the effort and the other one does not, the former female would presumably gain the large payoff of attracting this desirable man the most, while the other female gains a small payoff from not having to put in the effort. In the last situation, both females do not put forth any effort, and both equally do not attract the man, but they both reap the small benefit of not having wasted the time and effort. Since the primary objective, the “prize” of this game is attracting the man, it is the dominant strategy to use one’s resources and become the more attractive one. If the other female does the same, they both get nothing, but if the other female does not, she can have the highest payoff. On the other hand, if the first female does not do anything, she cannot have this man either way. Thus, according to Game Theory, the best strategy is to put effort into one’s appearance, whether that is through cosmetics or spending money on clothes. Perhaps the second reason that the article gives for why females care more about their appearance is closer to the actual answer than we think.