Abstract: The subject of this research is the dynamics of students’ perception on the functional importance of attractive appearance depending on the stage of education and spheres of life activities: communication, friendship; career; academic success; family, romantic relations. Following the tradition of analyzing the functions of appearance, the author considers the dynamics of the effect of the more attractive appearance upon the sense of happiness. Methodology is structured on the basis of developed by the author “Multi-factor model of analysis of the perception of appearance”, which centers around the “value of appearance”, its “functional importance”. Using the created together with G. V. Serikov questionnaire, the author examines the dynamics of measures of agreement with the statements on the effect of more attractive appearance depending on the stage of education of young people in university: 130 students, Bachelors of first and senior years. Data processing contains Manna-Whitney nonparametric U-test; paired sample t-test. The following conclusions were made: 1) The dynamics of perceptions on the effect of more attractive appearance is substantiated by the interaction of such factors as the stage of education and sphere of life activities; 2) In students’ perception, the functional importance of appearance is higher for the sphere of friendship, communication, sense of happiness rather than other spheres of life; 3) The dynamics of measured of agreement with the statements marks the decline in functional importance of appearance for the Bachelor students of senior year; 4) Functional importance of the more attractive appearance for the sphere of communication and friendship does change significantly under the influence of the stage of education.

Abstract: This article provides a theoretical analysis of the studies on the impact of student’s appearance upon his academic performance, and the impact of educator’s appearance upon the students’ academic success. A theoretical conclusion is made on the appearance as a “social capital” of the students and educators. It is noted that the conclusions about the influence of appearance on educational environment were formulated by the western scholars. Therefore, the authors examins the indicated problem with regards to the Russian students, including evaluation of the educator’s appearance, role of the subjective assessment of students’ economic status in determining the functional importance of appearance in educational environment. The authors apply a number of the original questionnaires and surveys. The research involved 130 students; 62% identified themselves with the group “rather poor than wealthy” and 48% – “rather wealthy than poor”. It is concluded that the students agree with the statement that the more attractive appearance can contribute to confident interaction with the educators, their attention to the student, and higher academic grades; students’ subjective assessment of their economic status affects their self-evaluation and evaluation of the educators’ appearance, but does not significantly influences the choice of measure of the functional importance of appearance for educational environment. The authors underline that the student environment, regardless the economic status of the students, has formed a perspective of the “investment power” of appearance as a social capital.

Abstract: The subject of the research is the different types of self-attitudes of girls participating in castings and differing in the evaluation of their beauty by consumers. The object of research is the ́isual presentation of the appearance (photos) of the girls involved in castings as well as evaluation of their appearance based on the scale of «beautiful-ugly». The study involved 50 girls aged 18 to 22 years old, participating in the casting, who had voluntarily agreed to provide images of their appearance for grading them «beautiful-ugly», and participated in psychological testing of their self-attitudes. Experts (consumers) who evaluated appearance of casting participants were 125 female students aged 18 to 22 years old. The research methodology includes the principle of linkages between physical appearance and inner world of the person. At the empirical level this principle implements the system study and evaluations of self- attitudes of outer beauty. The authr's choice to study self- attitudes of girls participating in castings was mainly determined by the fact that the appearance of the person carries information about his or her attitude to his or her self and others, and the fact that one's self- attitude is a factor regulating the entire system of relations, and positive attitude towards yourself and others is a requirement for girls participating in various types of castings. Research methods include questionnaire MRS developed by S. Pantileev, and ten-point scale «beautiful-ugly». To identify differences  inself - attitudes of girls (casting contestants) the author has applied the methods of descriptive statistics, t - criterion paired samples, and ̉- test for independent samples. The main findings of the research are the conclusions that girls who were evaluated as beautiful demonstrate such qualities as self-guidance, and integral self- attitude «autosympathy». They seek to control their behavior, build on their identity, and have a clear image of their goals. Unlike the other girls participating in castings, these girls have a high level of self-acceptance, positive attitude and respect towards themselves. From the practical point of view, these results show the need to take into account the integrity of external and internal perceptions when conducting castings.