Ideals of beauty are subject to social norms and change permanently. The attractiveness of a person is explained on the one hand by individual taste, but is also subject to fixed criteria.
What is attractiveness?
The attractiveness of a person is explained on the one hand by individual taste, but is also subject to fixed criteria. The choice of a partner is determined in many respects by attractiveness characteristics. Attractiveness is subject to certain norms and probably lies partly in biological criteria, as well as in social and individual ideas. The objectified attractiveness factor of male and female traits is influenced by the child schema (cute effect). Other criteria are often symmetry and sex characteristics. However, the ideals for judging beauty change and are determined by social norms. Thus, measurements of attractiveness can only refer to what we have largely learned to perceive as beautiful – because, other cultures judge attractiveness by different criteria.
Function and task
Beauty norms are not universal, but different in each culture. The image of women in the Baroque period was different from ours today. But in agreement, there are characteristics that almost everyone perceives as beautiful. To a certain extent, then, beauty is measurable. Health is more attractive than illness, so beautiful people are also considered healthier. In Western civilization, beauty is equated with slimness and is a status symbol, because it stands for prosperity and education. The fact that beauty criteria of a certain time are measurable makes clear, for example, the evaluation of the female figure from the male point of view. In the eye of the man, the ratio of waist to hips and to weight is decisive for female beauty. If the proportions are right, this figure is perceived as attractive by the majority of the Western population. However – these are only average criteria, which do not apply to the perception of all people. Nevertheless, women and men attach importance to other attributes. For women, for example, the muscle percentage of the male body also plays a role, which is not so easy to measure purely externally. Presumably, these gender-specific attributes are also learned and result from societal ideas about the essential characteristics of men and women. The attractiveness of the face is also measurable. Thus, the average face is perceived as the most attractive. Average means that the face is neither very small nor very large, has no blemishes such as warts or protruding ears. The flawlessness signals health. Viewers of such a face feel more comfortable. Women find these features on other women just as attractive as men. While a woman’s height is rather insignificant for her attractiveness, her age plays a significant role in the perception of beauty. Men of all ages find the twenty-year-old with average beauty most attractive. However, attractiveness does not only result from the face and physique. Posture can also have a decisive influence. Those who stand slouched and move in an uncoordinated manner express less self-confidence, less body awareness and ultimately less joie de vivre. Character and love also influence the observer’s view of attractiveness. To measure this, researchers in a study presented three photos of the respective partner. The partner was to be seen on this in hardly noticeably different beauty, since the photos had been slightly manipulated beforehand. Subjects who were in a happy relationship chose the most beautiful picture as the most realistic. Other research showed that people who are attributed positive qualities also appear more attractive on the outside. These traits can be internal, such as humor, education, intelligence, caring, and warm-heartedness, or they can be external, such as fame, power, and money. The extent to which attractiveness can also be detached from biological factors is shown by the finding that thin women are now considered beautiful. However, in terms of evolutionary biology, skinny women are at a disadvantage because they are less fertile and less able to survive.
Diseases and ailments
Since beautiful people also have it easier at work, it is easy to understand the enormous influence of the cosmetics industry.Man’s preference for beautiful objects permeates all areas of life and the entire history of mankind. Cute objects are perceived as beautiful all over the world because they arouse protective instincts. Ideals of beauty are also related to power structures. This is most evident in people who fall outside the grid of common beauty ideals. They are often subjected to discrimination due to external conspicuousness. The mechanisms at work here are complex. Society provides a whole range of instruments of oppression, such as sexism or racism. Discrimination on the basis of their body is also experienced by people for whom gender differentiation is difficult. However, their social acceptance is greater today than it was 30 years ago, which is also related to the fact that societies are beginning to evaluate the formerly strict gender categories of man and woman differently and view them less in distinction to each other. How we perceive attractiveness is also related to our past life experiences and our current state of consciousness. An “ugly” person is more likely to be socially ostracized, which can be accompanied by depression. He has a harder time making friends and has to compensate for his lack of attractiveness with other qualities. This requires a special expenditure of energy. The less beautiful person must demonstrate a whole range of qualities in order for a potential partner to notice him or fall in love with him. This feeling of being unattractive harbors, among other things, great dangers for anorexia or bulimia, with which, for example, the particularly slim ideal of beauty is emulated.
