People care way too much about their appearance/ appearances?
Google provides much more evidence for the singular but I have learnt not to trust it. In a formal essay I would opt for the plural since people do not share the one appearance, but I would like some clarification with this if possible.
The older question "On their back" or "on their backs"? is different from mine because the plural form has no other meaning. Whereas the word appearances, the plural can mean physical appearances as it can multiple looks.
Furthermore, it would be incorrect to use the sentence "people love their life" as it implies they share one. Yet lives has two meanings as well. Why is the plural correct in that context?
So I was hoping for an explanation on this.
Best Answer
'People care way too much about their appearance' usually means that people, in general, are over-concerned with the way they look to others. Each person has only one way that they look, hence the use of the singular.
'People care way too much about their appearances' might mean that people, in general, are over-concerned with their performances [in movies, on stage, on TV and so on]. Each person could have a number of such 'appearances', hence the use of the plural.
In both cases the use of the word 'their' indicates non-gender-specific singular possession, and not possession by a group.