subject: Facial Physical attractiveness, Its Importance and How It Is Part of Our DNA by @PhilipYoungMD [print this page] Facial Physical attractiveness, Its Importance and How It Is Part of Our DNA by @PhilipYoungMD
Facial beauty is so important to us. This is whether we like it or not. What we will find is that this appreciation of beauty, this importance that we have for it starts all the way into our DNA. What we are going to discuss in this article is how important facial aesthetics is to us, how it affects us in our daily lives, and what is the basis for this importance.
Facial aesthetics and its impact in our lives is all around us. We see it in the magazines, on television, on the internet, etc. People who are presented on these forums / mediums usually have a certain degree of attractiveness. It is obvious that people with a certain level of aesthetics will have more opportunities. What we find is that this phenomenon happens in almost every aspect of our lives. It even starts from the moment we are born, or soon after anyway. Studies have shown that we appreciate physical attractiveness very early on in life. As early as 3 months, we spend more time looking at pictures of beautiful people. This is before cultural influences, so that we know, based on this, that there is something very basic in our appreciation of aesthetics. Related to this, you might think that the United States and other more developed countries appreciate aesthetics more than other less developed countries. This would be an argument that culture strongly influences our desire to appreciate beauty. But studies have shown that physical attractiveness is appreciated more in less developed countries where disease may be more prevalent. From 3 months on, the influence of aesthetics persists. Our mothers and parents have been shown to treat us differently based on how beautiful we are. A study done in the grocery stores showed that mothers were more likely to spend less time away from their children in shopping carts when they were more beautiful. The less beautiful the more time they spent away from their children.
In grade school and our academic and professional lives, we are more likely to get better grades depending on our looks. When scientists did standardized tests, these differences disappeared. During this time, our looks definitely gave us some privileges that less attractive peers didn't have. This isn't right, but it happens and it is a reality. This goes on and on through life. In the work place, the beautiful are more likely to get promoted to higher positions and get paid more.
It is obvious what it can do for us from a social level. Being beautiful gives a person much more confidence. People give us more attention as well and are more likely to help us. It has been shown that being attractive can give you up to 10 fold increase in getting married. There are so many positive attributes that are bestowed on a person depending on their beauty. Attributes such as moral goodness, honesty, friendliness, being considerate, intelligence, wisdom, and the list goes on are given to the person that is more beautiful. With this in mind, socially a more attractive person will have much positive reactions in so many situations. Take for instance a job interview, there is only so much you can learn in an interview. With your looks, you have the potential to have all of these characteristics bestowed on you to give you a total advantage.
Beauty not only affects us from an individual level, it shapes our world. As you become more aware of how a few people in the world can shape our whole experience through years and decades, it may be fascinating to you that aesthetics could play a role in this. Case in point, President Obama, it is not a coincidence that he is also a very attractive person. His good looks gave him those opportunities more than he may want to acknowledge. He is one person who is shaping our world here in the United States and, obviously, throughout the world. A classic example of how aesthetics can be extremely powerful is when President Kennedy took on then President Nixon and won. Nixon was the vice president during war times and in this situation seemed to have all of the advantage. But Kennedy's good looks and charisma won the election. This again happened during the Bush and Clinton election race. Many thought that Clinton, with the same kind of charisma and also good looks won that election because of those traits. Imagine, something as simple as that.
Why is facial beauty so important to us? We are going to account for that right now. What might seem perplexing is the idea that the importance that we place on aesthetics is based on our desire for order in our lives. Humans have started out their development millions of years ago as a single cell. That single cell had to be organized to carry out its many functions. This need for order persisted and has been strong through our evolution into humans. This order is also, in turn, persistent in our minds both consciously and subconsciously (likely stronger in the subconscious side). We love order. We desire order since the day we were born and even before that. As children, we want to be fed on time, our diapers changed on time, etc. As we grow older this need continues. We want to get into the school we always wanted. We want to get married on time. Although, we know that our parents will pass away sometime, we hope that it is before we do. The need for desire continues on and on.
This same need for desire translates into our desire for order in the face. Beauty is just that, order in the face. The face and the objects within it needs to be ordered in the right way to create beauty. This is likened to when someone watches a scary movie. When the villain comes in, the keys change to something that is off key. This key that is out of harmony is out of order and this is interpreted as something bad. The Circles of Prominence Theory on Facial Beauty states that the objects in the face have to be ordered to create beauty in the same way. Within the face, the main objects, or regions, are the mouth, eyes, and nose. The objects need to be arranged within the face in an ordered way. They need to be apart from one another equally. Together the objects need to be set within the oval of the face in an even way as well. This can be determined by the iris width, the colored portion of the eye. The distance from the iris to the midline, from the midline to the nasal tip, from the nasal tip to the lower lip, and from the lower lip to the bottom of the chin should all be 3 iris widths, ideally. Each of these objects within the region are chosen because each are the most important object within those regions of the mouth, eyes, and nose. These objects are the iris (for the eyes), the nasal tip (for the nose), and the center of the lower lip (for the mouth area). Because of their importance, they need to be the object that each region's center is based upon. You can read more about this theory in the link provided in this paragraph.
Beauty is one of the most powerful traits that a person can have. The importance of beauty and the reason we are so attracted to it is based on our desire for order in our lives. Facial beauty is just a representation of this order. Because we have such a strong desire for order in our lives we desire beauty to the same degree. This desire for order is one of the most basic human needs. This most primitive need is hard for us to resist and it will continue. Our desire for beauty will also continue.
So are we relegated to a destiny of mediocre results in our lives in all realms if we are less than beautiful? We are not. You can overcome this power of beauty. It might take you more effort but anything is possible in life. Plastic surgery is the means to reach some of this change. But after you change yourself, you need to know that there are changes mentally and within that also need to take place as well. Over the years, you have formulated a point of view in life that can be largely based on the way you look, as less than positive as that may be. This knowledge of beauty's power can be the source for change for people. Knowing that people might be interpreting you and your actions because of how you look may allow you to recognize it and change the outcome in many situations. This can be overcome with hard work, personality, perseverance, humor, intelligence etc. that beauty can't do. Sometimes a little help in that direction can be a significant push to help you along be it coaching, learning, changing your outward appearance, etc.
