Psychology of beauty

Kaja Stolarska Krzysztof Wiatr

What is beauty?

One may as well dissect a soap bubble. We know it when we see it—or so we think. Philosophers frame it as a moral equation. What is beautiful is good, said Plato. Poets reach for the lofty. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty," wrote John Keats, although Anatole France thought beauty "more profound than truth itself."

Psychology understaning of beauty

We know it when we see it—or so we think.

Beauty is something intuitive and common for people.

Research show that even 6 month old babies “understand and see beauty”

Research

Infants ranging from two to six months of age prefer to look longer at faces rated as attractive by adults than at faces rated as unattractive by adults. We've also found that 12-month-olds prefer to approach and play with a stranger with an attractive face compared with a stranger with an unattractive face. (Langlois, 1990)

What makes a face beautiful?

Symmetry Youthfulness Averageness as fundamental and

necessary to facial attractiveness

Image morphing

Image morphing

College students rated the male and female composite faces as significantly higher in attractiveness than the individual faces used to create them, if the composites had at least 16 different faces in them. Thus, averaged faces are attractive. Note that when we use the word, "average," we mean the arithmetical mean, and not an average-looking person. If, for example, you take a female composite (averaged) face made of 32 different faces and overlay it on the face of an extremely attractive female model, the two images line up almost perfectly indicating that the model's facial configuration is very similar to the composites' facial configuration.

Which face is the most beautiful?

4 face composite 8 face composite 16 face composite 32 face composite

Which face is the most beautiful?

4 face composite 8 face composite 16 face composite 32 face composite

Does an ideal face exist?

proportions large eyes full lips small nose small chin

Beautiful or not?

Large eyes; full lips; small nose; small chin

Proportions, symmetry

Human perception of beauty is mainly a matter of proportions and symmetry

But, symmetry is not as important when we perceive visual art

In visual art symmetry is replaced by equilibrium

Equilibrium (Arnheim 1960)

A system is in equilibrium when the forces constituting it are arranged in such a way as to compensate each other, like the two weights pulling at the arms of a pair of scales.

Equilibrium is a feature of every fine work of art

Paul Cezanne, Madame Cezanne on yellow armchair

Grave's test

Choose which composition is better

Grave's test

On the first scheme a is well balanced because combination of square and rectangle is so strongly attached to each other that none of elements should change its place.

B is based on too little proportions On the second scheme b is considered to be

better.

Golden ratio

Fibonacci spiral

Myths about beauty

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? No

Raters agree about who is and is not attractive, both within and across ethnicity and culture. Beauty is not merely in the eye of the beholder.

There may be universal standards by which attractiveness is judged.

Do we really never judge a book by its cover? No

Attractive adults and children are judged more favorably than unattractive adults and children, even by those who know them.

Attractive adults and children are treated more positively than unattractive adults and children, even by those who know them.

Myths about beauty

Is beauty only skin deep? No

Beauty may be more than skin-deep: Although both attractive and unattractive people exhibit positive behaviors and traits, attractive people exhibit more positive behaviors and traits than unattractive individuals

What are some other interesting results of the meta-analysis?

Attractiveness is just as important in influencing our judgments and behavior toward others when we know them as when we do not.

Attractiveness is as important for males as for females in judging people we know.

Attractiveness is as important, if not more so, for children than for adults

Beauty as projection and wish fulfillment

The perception of beauty is not only a mental process but also a deeply personal one

We tend to project our inner fancies on other people

The wish fulfillment theory is also equally true when we want to be like someone in terms of talents or certain qualities

Beauty as innocence and charm

A person who has the inherent ability to attract individuals with the sheer force of personality and presence is considered highly attractive

Beauty as innocence and charm

Beauty as a product of culture and society

The concept of beauty seems to change with time as society changes and the perception of beauty varies in different cultures.

Beauty as a product of culture and society - examples

Dark skin is considered very attractive in Western societies

Whiter skin is considered as attractive in Eastern societies

Feet and hair of women are important features in Eastern cultures whereas in the West, the woman’s lips, and hips are considered important

How do we perceive that?

The breasts of women are important indicators of beauty in all cultures

Men’s body and chin or jaw and certain masculine sharpness are also considered as attractive

According to the surveys

Women tend to prefer dominant looking men during the first follicular stage in their reproductive cycle but prefer men with softer more feminine features when they are in their menstrual and ovulation stages

Research

Men who read female so-called lad magazines such as Maxim have more body-image problems than others

While it is fairly well-known that women feel worse about their bodies after viewing other females in Cosmopolitan or Glamour, men apparently have the same feelings after perusing the lingerie-clad women spread across the pages of e.g.Maxim