What is beauty? Since the ancient times, philosophers and artists have been trying to find the answer to this question. Nowadays, using advanced technology, we try to examine this topic again. Maybe it's not philosophy or art that has the answer after all, but science?
A lot of information about hystorical view of beauty can be found in ancient Greek’s culture. The Pythagorean school saw a strong connection between mathematics - especially proportions - and beauty. Classical Greek sculptures and paintings were rediscovered in renaissance, leading to a re-adoption of what became known as a "classical ideal" - product of rational order and harmony of proportions.
Another strong indicator of physical beauty is "averageness", or "koinophilia", discovered in 19th century: when images of human faces are averaged together to form a composite image, they become progressively closer to the "ideal" image and are perceived as more attractive. According to a 2009 study, actress Jessica Alba’s facial proportions are close to the average of all female proportions.
Standards of beauty have changed over time, based on changing cultural values. However, humans who are relatively young, with smooth skin, well-proportioned bodies, and regular features, have traditionally been considered the most beautiful throughout history.
How does science explain that?
Perhaps the key to understanding human vision of beauty is the knowledge that, despite the fact that we are the most inteligent species on Earth, we are still animals and we’re not resistant to the laws of biology and genetics.
Multiple studies show that perceptions of beauty are evolutionarily deteremined. Aspects of people considered beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give enhanced survival of the perceiving human's genes. These factors contribute to the probability of survival and reproduction for continuing life on Earth.
What does it have to do with ancient’s obsession with symmetry? In 2008, dr Anthony Little of the University of Stirling proved that symmetry suggests the absence of genetic or acquired defects. He says they ‘advertise quality in terms of resistance to disease, or environmental stresses and that might mean people with these traits are healthier and live longer’.
Some of the recent studies revealed standards of modern beauty: men, on average, tend to be attracted to women who are shorter than they are, have a youthful appearance, symmetrical face, full breasts, full lips, and a low waist-hip ratio. Women, on average, tend to be attracted to men who are taller than they are, display a high degree of facial symmetry and masculinity, broad shoulders, a relatively narrow waist, and a V-shaped torso. Another studies even took a blitz on men’s facial hair, proving that women tend to prefer heavy stubble over full beard or clean shave.
However, science states that in many cases, humans attribute positive characteristics, such as intelligence and honesty, to physically attractive people without consciously realizing it; this can be a proof that, fortunately, beauty doesn’t play as huge role in our lives as it may seem.
Questions: Does your perception of beauty match the research findings mentioned in the article? Do you believe beauty is something possible to be defined?
Bibliography:
http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(13)00022-6/abstract#
Firstly I do not believe that beauty is possible to be defined. Each person has its own taste and beauty concept. There are some certain ranges like dependence between weight and height that can describe how someone should look like. Yet it is more important from a medical point of view.
ReplyDeleteRepeatedly in articles we can read that the canon of beauty is a person like Kim Kardashian or Joanna Krupa. But how many parts of their bodies are real…
The most wondrous is the number of beauty competitions. The most dare me those which describes only celebrities and claim that they are the most beautiful in the whole world. But maybe they should look among the remaining seven billions of ordinary human beings.
And as a supplement you can watch the animation how the canon of beauty has changed (http://kafeteria.tv/Artysta-stworzyl-animacje-jak-zmienialy-sie-KANONY-rklWfxnSOIC). Little bit brutal but seems to be true.
Of course beauty is impossible to define. And it definately is not the only factor that makes one persone being attracted to another.
ReplyDeleteI think that what we consider beautiful comes from ourselves, from our thinking, education, upbringing, the places we are living in, the people we are meeting. It's like everything in our life decides what we consider beautiful or not.
Except of primal instincts of cours, which were mantioned in presentation, that always will be somewhere in the back of our heads, when we'll be looking for a partner.
Karolina and Weronika, I agree with both of you that everyone has a different vision of beauty. Nevertheless, I find it interesting how biology affects some general trends in people's vision of attractiveness, and the factors that Weronika mentioned - cultural and social effects, upbringing, etc. - can also be a subject of scientific studies. I believe that with sufficient data and huge computing power we would be able to predict with great accuracy whether two people would be attracted to each other. Can you imagine matchmaking in some distant future, done entirely by computers? For some people this vision may sound horrifying, but it's such an interesting thought :)
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ReplyDeleteI don't think that the beauty is something to be defined. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Everyone is different and people have difrent tastes. I'm not kind of people who are interested in looking for new beauty trend and I would definitely never do a plastic surgery to corect something in my look. I like myself as I am.
ReplyDeleteKatarzyna, I think it's great! Self-acceptance is such an important thing, especially in the times of unrealistic portrayals of beauty, shown and exaggerated by media, fashion world and clothing companies. I definitely wouldn't make any alterations in my looks just to fit in society's expectations or media's vision of beauty. It saddens me that many people do!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that nowadays beauty and the visual attractiveness still play a huge role in the perception of others. Honestly: the body proportion, the way of moving– it’s important for the general ingestion of the person. The appearance IS significant and I truly believe that it affects on our attitude to the individuals. I’ve nothing against plastic surgeries unless it looks quite natural. If it’s going to make someone self-confident and self-accepted – why not? The main thing is to know the restraint. The definitions of beauty can be different, but I think that every one of them has something in common, there are repeatable models of them.
ReplyDeleteI think similarly as Katarzyna Przybysz that perception of beauty depends on different types of persons, but in some small amount of cases perception of beauty is the same for everyone.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you have heard about golden ratio it was commonly used in many buildings, statues, monuments, music. For example buildings like pyramids, pantheon were created by using this ratio also many statues in ancient Greece were also constructed by using this ratio. You can also see this in nature in many cases you can read more about it here. For many people buildings, statues, monuments created by using this ratio are seen as beautiful and perfect. Some people think that golden ration is definition of beauty.
Tomasz, of course! I have nothing against plastic surgeries, provided that they're a conscious decision made to achieve self-acceptance, not a fullfillment of society's expectations or media's vision of beauty. People should accept themselves, not seek for the acceptance of others! :)
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ReplyDeleteAccording to the waist-hip ratio it is also connected with the psychology :) Once I have read an article that it is all about the reproductive possibilities. If the ratio is reaching some value ( I don't remember now and I cannot find it :( ) your reproductive possibilities are way higher (in men's eyes? or in reality? I don't really remember :D ) But thats funny.
ReplyDeleteI also remember from my psychology class that, as you mentioned, it is all about how healthy and how easy it will be surviving with us :D I mean, when it comes to women - how well will she raise our children, how many children is she able to give birth to and so on. About men - it is important if he can provide his family, if he can provide food for them, is he strong enough to kill an animal to get his food (that's why we like strong and well built men) :)
I find it very interesting, how our basic instincts are still current, when world has changed so much :D
Natalia, according to wikipedia:
ReplyDelete'Ethnic groups vary with regard to their ideal waist-to-hip ratio for women, ranging from 0.6 in China, to 0.8 or 0.9 in parts of South America and Africa.' And you're right about the indicator of fertility: 'A WHR of 0.7 for women and 0.9 for men has been shown to correlate strongly with general health and fertility: "Women within the 0.7 range have optimal levels of estrogen and are less susceptible to major diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and ovarian cancers."'
You can read more on this subject here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waist%E2%80%93hip_ratio.
Patrycja, yeah that's exactly what I meant! And this is quite funny how our body can perfectly reflect our health condition. Come on, waist-hip ratio showing our general health, level of hormones and fertility? That's really fascinating :)
ReplyDeleteThere is also a research made by Dr. Stephen Marquardt. Based on the golden number/proportion and the pentagon, he created the Beauty Mask.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goldennumber.net/beauty/
This video shows how the Beauty Mask works after some job done in Photoshop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4fUjzqCC-8&hd=1
s7618, that's really interesting! I used a picture of the beauty mask in my post (the first photo, with Marilyn Monroe), but I didn't describe it further (I guess I would have to write a book if I wanted to cover the subject of beauty completely! :)) Nevertheless, it's an amazing subject and the video you posted can be useful to all SNM students here :)
ReplyDeleteIs beauty possible to defined? There is something in that, objectively, in people's minds proportional body and face is attractive. On the other hand, people have different tastes, so as the saying goes 'Every Jack must have his Jill' :)
ReplyDeleteI just saw the video mentioned by s7618, that's very interesting. This mask surely can be used as a model for creating concept of character's face.
I totally agree with the opinion that it is impossible to define a beauty. Each person is different and has its own taste.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has their own definition of beauty, which depends on many factors such as the environment, the times in which we live, our friends, family, etc.
Does your perception of beauty match the research findings mentioned in the article?
ReplyDeleteNo. I'm a photographer and I tend to find unexpected things in normaln situations that make me go "wow". I'll tell You a little secret. We all "see" this perfect ratio. read a little about the golden ratio. you'll see why we tend to see some people prettier than others, etc. Just a fun fact.
Do you believe beauty is something possible to be defined?
You should check the golden ratio thing. You'll be amazed at how many times You can find this ratio in what we percieve as beauty.
Marcin, I can also partially relate to the opinion that beauty cannot be defined. On one hand we have different tastes for example when it comes to the color of hair etc. but there are some factors that are surely hardcoded in our brains by evolution. Especially when it comes to the ways how women are perceived as sexually attractive for men. I watches the whole documentary that explained many of those evolution "instincts" left in our brains and how they influence our lives and choices in a way we would never imagine !
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