Magic mirror, on the wall who is the fairest of them all?
The Evil Queen, Snow White (Disney)
In matter of taste, there should be no dispute as what we find beautiful is hard-wired in our brain and is highly subjective. It is true for art, and it is true for people. Finding someone attractive is seeing the beauty in them… and if beauty is subjective, attractiveness seems to present some universal characteristics.
Thinking about it, why do we pay so much attention to physical attractiveness? In our modern societies, I think we can divide people into 2 categories: the ones that put physical attributes before all, and the ones that value intellectual abilities and look for a balance mind-physic in their potential partners. With the development of speedy-dating apps, the need for perfect attractiveness became even stronger. Being seen as beautiful was always an advantage, but at least before, you had a chance to talk to people and make a good impression before being swiped left and out.
However, what if being attractive and looking for attractive partners was an evolutionary adaptation? What if it was a residual adaptive behaviour from times when choosing the right mate was fundamental for your offspring survival? In the animal realm (humans included), choosing the right partner is important to ensure your genes will survive through your descendants. Now, it is not always possible for individuals to ask for a full genotype before deciding this individual is the right one (and frankly, can you imagine animals flicking through a gene database to select their mate?). We all have to rely on visible signals to help us decide who is right for us and who will ensure the survival of offspring. Throughout evolutionary time, we learn to associate specific physical attribute to a person’s value (e.g., health, genetic quality) and by doing so we favoured those traits above others. It would however be good to remember that in our time and age of technology the fittest is no longer the unique best choice when it comes to choosing partners…
So, favouring attractive people has evolutionary roots. Let’s see what criteria people use to characterise someone’s beauty and how they are linked to beneficial values. Multiple research on attractiveness highlighted that youth seems to be a fair indicator of beauty: the younger, the better. Younger individuals have a longer life expectancy and a better reproduction index (especially women as their fertility peak is in their 20s to early 30s). Then come weight: Western societies privilege lighter individuals, as a lower body mass is often linked with reduced cardio-vascular issues. Skin colour is also quite important: in Caucasian, the red and the yellow skin tones are found most attractive as they can be linked to a greater consumption of carotenoids (yellow, orange, and red organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, giving the characteristic colour to pumpkins, carrots, corn, tomatoes, canaries, flamingos, and daffodils), usually found in vegetables and associated with a healthy diet.
Then comes facial averageness, referring to the closeness of a face to the population average; for instance, each country is characterised by specific facial traits and when you take all the faces of a country and put them together, you get the country’s average face. The more an individual look like their country’s average face, the more attractive they are found to be in the country. And the more you look like the world’s average face, the more attractive you are to be found in multiple countries. One universal characteristic is facial symmetry: the more the two sides of a face are similar, the more attractive that face is. Sexual dimorphism seems quite important too: a very feminine or a very masculine face is usually rated as more attractive than an androgynous face. And finally, facial traits associated with personality traits can be quite determining: more masculine faces mean less cooperative behaviour which might not be ideal when looking for a someone to help you raise kids and smiling makes you more trustworthy and thus more attractive.
One important thing about all those criteria: they result from mass studies and do not reflect individual preferences. The fact that most people are attracted to young, yellow-ish, symmetrical faces does not mean that everybody rely on those. They are the most common criteria found to reflect attractiveness. As mentioned, some are culture-specific (skin colour, weight) and different criteria might be more important in specific countries than others. Moreover, what women think is attractive is not always what men are looking for. Previous research fund that facial symmetry is the only characteristic both genders seem to agree on when it comes to attractiveness; men paid more attention to facial youthfulness and facial averageness. This can be understood when taking (again) an evolutionary perspective: men and women do not have exactly the same goals when looking for a sexual partner (namely a long-term partner to have children with). Men can pass on their genes at very little cost and are usually more interested in physical characteristics and physical beauty. It is a different story for women who have to go through gestation and childbirth, with all the risks associated with them; as a result, women tend to be more interested in earning capacity, linked to the ability of men to take care of them, and trustworthiness. They seem to be more interested in people and do not limit their choices to physical attributes as much as men have been found to do. [again, this is not universal and is not applicable to every single man/woman. Individual differences exist]
We live in a media culture, a connected world that emphasise the importance of being good looking and turns it into a virtual prerequisite for being happy. However, “nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it” (Daniel Kahneman), which means that good looking is only relevant to your happiness if you think it is. There’s nothing unhealthy about taking pride in the way we look, but no amount of cosmetics and plastic surgeries is going to buy perfect happiness. Happiness is a choice and is not rules by physical attributes… and it has been proven by a study showing that being attractive makes you actually less successful in your relationships. Who would have thought…? Attractive people have it easy when it comes to finding partners. They will be noticed during parties, people will want to know them and hang out with them, they can even be popular without having to work for it, just because they look good. But that means they are more likely to pay attention to more people and keep their options open when it comes to potential partners. When in a relationship, most people will downplay how attractive they find other people or tend to find something better in their current partner. More attractive people on the other hand take greater interest in alternative partners, especially when dissatisfied in their current relationships. While good-looking people tend to enjoy many advantages in life (higher pay, being judged as more friendly and more intelligent), they seem to have less stability in their romantic relationships.
To sum up, a lot of studies help identify the main characteristics associated with physical beauty and attractiveness but remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder… and it’s not all about physical beauty. Being attentive and considerate or trustworthy is most important in long-term relationships. Embrace your beauty and choose to be happy. And remember what Coco Chanel said: "Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself". And it seems to have worked quite well for her…
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