Symmetry Defines Beauty

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What attracts one person to another? The question is crucial as we consider the values of our society, the emphasis we put on physical beauty and beauty products, the new resurgence of weight loss wonder drugs and popular fad diets, not to mention a new reality TV show devoted to placing a new person under the knife for plastic surgery every week. All of these carry the same message: beauty is nearly synonymous with happiness. So then is the nature of "beauty" a philosophical conundrum, a biological issue, a psychological mind set, or a cultural problem? What are we attracted to, why are we attracted to it, and is there a ratio or specific definition of this beauty we are looking to attain? Variations of this question are timeless, and without ever defining beauty, we are constantly attempting to achieve it. Hundreds of years ago the essence of beauty was a philosophical question. Plato was one of the first to conjecture that beauty may be due to what he called the "golden proportions." Plato went on to describe that the "width of an ideal face would be two-thirds its length, while a nose would be no longer than the distance between the eyes." (3) Although all of Plato's ideas were not entirely defendable, it was the first recognition that symmetry might play a part in what humans deem attractive. Today we have taken on the task of beauty quite seriously. From a biological and psychological standpoint, we do believe that there are certain determinant factors in a person's attractiveness. Studies focusing on the effects of beauty are growing in number and recognition. For example, human infants prefer images of symmetrical patterns rather than nonsymmetrical ones. (5) Furthermore, babies also prefer looking at pictures of s... ... middle of paper ... ... such as personality, kindness, generosity and emotional stability are not just afterthoughts in the quest for a mate, but they may need to fight for their place, next to the enormous power that physical beauty and symmetry may have on our choice of a mate. References 1) USA Weekend.Com, The Beauty of Symmetry http://www.usaweekend.com/03_issues/030601/030601symmetry.html 2) Great Moments in Science , Beauty- Part One http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s53207.htm 3) Symbol of Beauty, An article on symmetry in nature and our relationship with it. http://www.art.net/~coffin/WRITINGS/BEAUTY/beauty.html#Subject4 4) Looking Good: The Psychology and Biology of Beauty, An article on different on the approaches to beauty. http://www.beautyworlds.com/lookinggoodpsychbiol.htm 5) Beauty: Form and Symmetry http://www.beautyworlds.com/form.htm

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