2006-06-25 13:17:16 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Sociology
Good Question !
Beautiful and Ugly are 'relative' terms. There is no standard parameters to define these and hence the definitions of these terms vary vastly and our thoughts about beautiful or ugly also vary.
I think these two factors influence the way what we think as beautiful or ugly..
1.Social factors: There are some standard norms/ideas about what is beautiful & what is not. We get influenced by these norms.For example, there may be a common view that tall people are handsome.So we grow up with this view and handsome gets associated with tallness.
2.Media: Majority of the stereotypes about beauty/ugly are created by media.Media may showcase something as beautiful & it do influence our thoughts.For example, fashion channels showing skinny ladies as models.We get into a stereotype that models need to be skiiny & that is beauty!
2006-06-25 15:59:44 · answer #1 · answered by Hope 1 · 3⤊ 0⤋
There was a study done on this type of 'programmed' recognition of what each person's sense of beauty is. They say that certain facial features trigger a certain reaction in people from the time they're babies to recognize one person as being beautiful & another as being the opposite. Supposedly the reason why we think babies & small animals are 'cute' is because of their small, less-prominent features & rounder appearance. The same studies showed that babies & adults focus more intently on people with evenly-shaped features (a nose that is the right size for the face, eyes that are not separated far apart, etc.), opposed to larger features that are not necessarily symmetrical to the rest of the face.
2006-06-25 20:25:49 · answer #2 · answered by lop 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My first-born, now 9, participated in a research deal at University of Texas to find out if judging someone "attractive" is a learned behavior or not. They had the child sit in a chair with a screen in front. They showed different pictures of people - those that are deemed attractive and those deemed not attractive - and rated their response. With the attractive ones, they would gaze longer. With the less attractive tones, they would avert their eyes quicker.
It went a little deeper than that, but I don't know where my copy of the findings went. It was very interesting, though.
And I do want to point out that the "less" attractive ones weren't hideous or anything. Just "average".
2006-06-26 15:10:12 · answer #3 · answered by iam1funnychick 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a way of finding the best possible mate with which to reproduce. We think people with symettrical faces to be beautiful because it means they have good genes so will be good at making babies. Also we think women with wide hips are hot because they will be able to deliver a baby easily, etc. We think people who are spotty and smelly are ugly because it shows they might have poor hygiene so won't be good at making babies.
So basically we don't learn it. It's just an innate sense that acts as a key tool in natural selection.
2006-06-25 20:21:45 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a cultural thing. Like in the US, an athletic-looking woman with no fat, breast implants, some facial reconstruction, etc is considered beautiful. In other cultures it's a fat woman with a large rear end.
In France, a woman with some age is beautiful, In America, she's old
get it?
2006-06-25 20:45:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Everyone is beautiful to some one. So beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
2006-06-25 20:48:44 · answer #6 · answered by rkkcandi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Bias is a normal path of reasoning. It's normal to accept either one of two nemesis. The world provides a variety of stimuli. Therefore we learn what we like and don't like. We learn to accept what is liked by those we trust.
2006-06-25 20:31:58 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
society has formed that criterion in which we judge beauty. and if you think about it, beeauty rreally is in the ey of the beholder. what i may think is beautiful, you may habe no interest in.. its all about individuality and preferences..we were given eyes to judge the outward appearance and ears to test it.
2006-06-25 20:22:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
some of it is what we are used to and what our society tells us is beautiful but it also comes from inside as in we will look at something and it is pleasing to us or it is not sometimes inspite of what we have been taught.
2006-06-26 01:05:47 · answer #9 · answered by digimutt 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's a product of our socialization in this world.. as we interact with more people, we assimilate and accomodate schemas of what is beautiful and what is ugly.
2006-06-25 20:23:26 · answer #10 · answered by hazelmelanie 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋