Essay On Rewarding For Beauty

Andryanna Sheppard

Moffatt

BIOL 330: Human Sexuality

9 April 2014

Rewarding for Beauty

There is no surprise that people who are considered to be generally and overall more attractive, pretty, beautiful or just plain hot get better treatment or opportunities than those who are less attractive, pretty, handsome, hot, etc. in comparison. Although there is the saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” humans tend to subconsciously reward these people for their amazing facial features. Not only does the human brain want to physically reward these attractive people but it also wants to reward itself for simply looking at the attractive person.

When one sees someone that is, in one’s mind, extremely attractive, they want to continue to look at the attractive person, face, body, etc. According to a popular press article, human beings “apparently seek out the more attractive people because our brains give us a pat on the proverbial back when we lock eyes with” someone with a more aesthetically pleasing face (Lucas, 2014). One likes to continue looking at that person, face, body, etc. because one’s brain makes one feel better about viewing that person’s attractive face, body, etc.

An experiment was done and reported in Molecular Psychiatry discussing how and why the human brain rewards itself for looking at someone it considers to be attractive. It is agreed that individuals who are considered more attractive are honored and judged in a more positive manner further reflecting the idea that ‘beautiful is good.’ (Chelnokova, 2014). The reason for this is beautiful faces get processed by the limbic reward system, which contain “high density of μ-opioid receptors, which have an important role in affiliation and attachment.” (Chelnokova...

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...system and how it accurately contributes to this fact. Although technically the information mentioned in the Nerve.com article was accurate, its accuracy could have been further supported with information on the opioid system in terms and the language that the average, everyday person can understand.

References

Chelnokova, O., Laeng, B., Eikemo, M., Riegels, J., Løseth, G., Maurud, H., et al.

(2014). Rewards of beauty: the opioid system mediates social motivation in humans. Molecular Psychiatry,1-2. Retrieved March 1, 2014, from http://www.sv.uio.no/psi/english/people/aca/sirigra/chelnokova_rewardsofbeauty_2014.pdf

Lucas, J. (2014, February 11). Your Brain Rewards You for Looking at Attractive People

So Here Are 20 of Them. Nerve.com. Retrieved March 3, 2014, from http://www.nerve.com/love-sex/your-brain-rewards-you-for-looking-at-attractive-people-so-here-are-20