Beauty ideals shift with socioeconomic status, new psychology study suggests

A new study analyzing tens of thousands of edited selfies reveals that beauty standards on Chinese social media often favor youthful, “baby-faced” features like large eyes and soft facial contours. Published in Telematics and Informatics, the research also shows that the intensity of these digital alterations is connected to regional economic conditions, with users in less affluent areas making more significant changes to their appearance.

The act of editing a selfie before posting it online is a common practice worldwide. This form of digital self-presentation is especially prevalent in many East Asian societies, where it is influenced by a blend of long-standing cultural values, global media, and the interactive nature of social platforms.

While many studies have explored the psychological motivations behind photo editing, such as body image concerns, less attention has been paid to quantifying the specific aesthetic goals users are trying to achieve or how these goals might be shaped by their socioeconomic environment.

To investigate this, a team of researchers from Sichuan University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, led by Yuqing Liu, set out to systematically measure the digital beauty ideals circulating on a popular Chinese social media platform. They aimed to understand not just what features users changed, but how those changes might relate to broader economic patterns across China. The researchers wanted to provide a quantitative look at how culture, technology, and economic context intersect to shape the way people present themselves online.

The team collected data from Rednote, a platform popular among young women in China for sharing lifestyle and beauty content. They gathered approximately 43,000 posts that specifically showcased “before and after” photo edits, which provided a direct comparison between an original selfie and its modified version. From this large collection, they created a final dataset of 13,448 high-quality image pairs from more than 9,000 unique posts.

Free daily newsletter

Using a computational method that detects facial landmarks, the scientists automatically identified and measured dozens of specific facial attributes in each pair of photos. This technique allowed them to precisely quantify changes in the size, shape, and proportion of features like the eyes, nose, and mouth, as well as alterations to overall face shape and skin color. This approach moved beyond subjective descriptions to create an objective map of the desired digital look.

To examine the connection with economic factors, the researchers used the geographic location tagged in each user’s post. They then matched this location data with official statistics on per capita Gross Domestic Product for each province in China. This allowed them to use regional economic development as a general indicator for the socioeconomic context of the users, categorizing regions into high, moderate, moderate-low, and low economic tiers.

The analysis of the edited photos revealed consistent patterns. Users frequently modified their faces to appear shorter in height and narrower in width. The most prominent changes were made to the eyes, which were consistently enlarged and made to look rounder. In contrast, noses and mouths were typically edited to appear smaller. When it came to skin, the trend was to increase brightness and lightness while reducing color saturation, producing a paler and smoother complexion.

The researchers observed that many of these modifications align with what is known in evolutionary biology as the “baby schema.” This concept refers to a set of facial features, such as a high forehead, large eyes, a small nose, and a small chin, that are characteristic of infants. These features tend to trigger a caregiving response in adults and are widely perceived as cute, warm, and approachable. The study suggests that digital beauty trends on the platform are strongly guided by the appeal of these youthful traits.

When the researchers correlated these editing habits with regional economic data, they found that the intensity of the edits was inversely related to a region’s economic standing. Users from provinces with lower per capita GDP were more likely to make substantial alterations to their selfies, more dramatically emphasizing the baby schema features. This included making their eyes appear larger, their faces rounder, and their mouths smaller.

In contrast, users from more economically developed regions tended to make less intensive edits. The researchers suggest that this may reflect differing self-presentation strategies. In wealthier areas, with greater access to diverse social networks and global cultural influences, individuals may favor more mature or unique aesthetics that project confidence and autonomy. For these users, an overly youthful appearance could be perceived as less authoritative in professional or social settings.

The study proposes that in less developed regions, conforming to a widely accepted standard of “cuteness” may serve as a strategy for building social capital. An appearance perceived as trustworthy, warm, and non-threatening could be socially advantageous in environments where social mobility is a greater concern. The digital enhancement of baby-faced features might be a way for individuals to align themselves with an aesthetic that is seen as broadly appealing and socially acceptable.

The study has some limitations that open pathways for future inquiry. The data came from a single social media platform, Rednote, and its user base may not represent all selfie-editing behaviors in China or East Asia. Additionally, regional GDP is a broad measure of economic context and does not capture the personal financial status, education, or age of individual users.

Future research could expand on these findings by collecting data from multiple platforms and incorporating more detailed demographic information. It would also be informative to conduct longitudinal studies to track how digital beauty ideals evolve over time and in response to economic or cultural shifts. Examining other forms of digital modification, such as body editing or the use of augmented reality filters, would also provide a more complete picture of online self-presentation.

The study, “Achieving your best self: How socio-economic variation and cultural values shape digital beauty trends,” was authored by Yao SONG, Qiyuan ZHOU, Wenyi LI, and Yuqing LIU.