What Constitutes Beauty?

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, goes the famous quote. The only problem with this quote is, is it really true?

 

Beauty Has Evolutionary Origin

According to evolutionary psychologists, human beings developed the ability to perceive beauty so that they can increase their chance of spreading their genes.

 

For instance, people who managed to notice the signs of good health in their reproductive partners managed to give birth to more offspring and thus managed to make their genes more widespread.

 

According to this theory, human beings perceive what is more advantageous for spreading their genes as more beautiful.

 

How Does the Theory Apply to Real Life?

While it is true that there are some individual differences in the perception of beauty, there are some common features that many perceive to be beautiful.

 

For instance, women with the waist-hip ratio of around 0.7 are often perceived to be beautiful. For males, there exists Adonis ratio. It states that males who have their shoulder circumference 1.6 times their waist circumference are often perceived as the most physically attractive.

 

It is not difficult to see the cause of such phenomenon. Female waist-hip ratio is associated with the capacity to give birth to an offspring, while male shoulder circumference is associated with strength and strong cardiovascular endurance.

 

Final Note

If you are an artist trying to make an attractive piece of art, it would probably be helpful for you to know that there exists some visual characteristics that are highly likely to be deemed more aesthetically pleasing.

 

Thank you for reading the post. See you later!