SCI-ART LAB

Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

You look at a face. In an instant your mind decides whether it is beautiful ( atleast for you) or not. How is this possible? What is the science behind it?
Researchers are trying for the answers. Some answers are already emerging.
Such as symmetry. Faces that we deem attractive tend to be symmetrical. Attractive faces also are average. In a symmetrical face, the left and right sides look like each other. They’re not perfect mirror images. But our eyes read faces with similar proportions on both sides as symmetrical.

People’s faces usually only differ very slightly in symmetry, according to the researchers.  Everyone's face is slightly asymmetrical, but in different ways. In the end, many of these faces seem symmetrical.  Symmetry looks normal to us. So we like it.

Averageness,  refers to how similar a face looks to most other faces in a population. Average, here, does not mean “so-so.” Rather, average faces are a mathematical average (or mean) of most people’s features. And, in general, people find such faces quite attractive. Averageness includes all kinds of factors, such as the size of the features of your face and their arrangement. For example, the distance between the centers of a woman’s eyes affects whether she is considered beautiful. People find her most attractive when that distance is just under half of the width of the face. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Toronto in Canada discovered that ratio. Just as important, they found, is the distance between a woman’s eyes and mouth. It should be just over one-third the height of her face. Both those distances match the population average, or are close to it.

How do people start measuring these parameters? How do they learn it? Researchers experimented with babies. Some of their young recruits were just two to three months old. The researchers showed each baby photos of two faces. One face was more attractive than the other. The scientists then recorded how long the infants looked at each face. Interestingly, babies spent longer viewing the attractive faces than the unattractive ones. That meant they preferred the pretty faces! Ummm!  These findings suggest that people prefer pretty faces very early in life. However, it’s still possible that we learn that preference. But don't forget by the time the researchers tested the infants, they already had experience with faces that were closer to them. That experience can make a difference. Research conducted at the University of Delaware found that babies’ brains are better at processing faces from their own 'groups' like societies, races. So infants quickly come to prefer these faces.

I observed several times my niece and nephew when they were still babies, crying and turning  their faces away and hiding them on my shoulder or hugging me whenever they saw - bad characters such as thieves with black , ugly faces (made up ones though) on TV. They could easily identify them! 

This has been proved by another research on tribal groups. When pictures of various people were shown for specific groups of people, each group picked their own tribe people as beautiful than others! So both biology and the environment work together to shape peoples' values. The preference for averageness itself is biologically based, experts explain. But people must first experience other faces to learn what an average face should look like.

Research also shows that people with more symmetrical faces don’t just look beautiful. They also tend to be healthier than asymmetrical people. Genes provide the instructions for how a cell is to perform. All people have the same number of genes. But people with more average faces tend to have a greater diversity in the genes they are born with. And that, research has shown, can lead to a stronger immune system and better health. While finding mates, humans usually innately prefer healthier ones for better reproduction qualities.

This beauty preference is not limited to only humans. Research on animals , especially birds  also shows that female birds prefer good-looking guys. For example, among satin bowerbirds, females prefer males whose feathers reflect more ultraviolet (UV) light. Researchers at Auburn University in Alabama caught male bowerbirds and took blood samples. Males with blood parasites had feathers reflecting less UV light than healthy males. So when females chose males with UV-rich plumage, they weren’t just being shallow. They were using that information to find healthy males to father their young.

And why do you choose only one person out of thousands? This is not always true. People can go for several partners and that is how cheating occurs across animal kingdom!

However, your mind is conditioned by your genetics, culture, 'group or societal dynamics'( like education and financial background), family values, your definition of beauty and  good behaviour, your likes and dislikes and several other things. They subconsciously effect your thinking and your preferences are established even before you fall for that 'someone special'.

 "Scientific' beauty is based off of symmetry. Facial and physical appearance, as well as pheromones play a large role in attraction. Pheromones are the scent markers that appear in human

sweat and dictate sexual behavior. Sometimes lovers choose their mate because of a distinct quality that reminds them of their own parents! Hmmm! Some researchers have found out that females prefer faces with typically male characteristics during ovulation and those with feminine traits at other points of their menstrual cycle ( so these cycles dictate who a girl falls in love with). However, men's notions of what is attractive (such as ideal hip-to-waist ratio) remain relatively constant over time.

And when you are very young you might fall for physical attractiveness and when you get old, you might have other preferences! So your age too dictates your choices!

Some studies (1) have found that animals are more likely to mate with partners they’re genetically compatible with. It’s unclear whether this research applies to humans, but some scientists think we might be preprogrammed to spot “the one.” Romantic attraction might serve an Evolutionary  function (2). We seek out specific people who will be suitable mates, and neglect others.

Then how can human minds identify beauty of ... say... a flower? 

The beauty of a rose one experiences is because of a number of factors (3):

1. The chemicals that form the beautiful colours (and their light absorptions and dispersions that make your eyes see them).

2. the genes that make the shapes.

3. The chemicals that make it smell sweet

4. The receptors of our brains that respond to these chemicals, shapes and smells (neuroscience).

5. The feel good hormones released when we see certain things that tell us what we are seeing is beautiful.

Several people still think and say science can't explain these things such as emotions, beauty etc. which is not true. Although the explanations are still in the earlier stages, we are getting at the truth, slowly but surely.

CITATIONS:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2666498/?tool=pubmed

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1764845/?tool=pubmed

3. https://kkartlab.in/group/some-science/forum/topics/science-can-tel...

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