Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?

doi:10.1016/0162-3095(93)90005-3

Ethology and Sociobiology

Volume 14, Issue 3, May 1993, Pages 183-199

https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(93)90005-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

Theories of beauty were evaluated by requiring subjects to “evolve” a beautiful female face using a Genetic Algorithm. In this procedure, a computer program generated a small population of faces (first generation of phenotypes) from a set of random binary strings (genotypes). Genotypes specified the shapes and soft tissue anthropometrics of facial features. Each of the first generation of faces was rated by a subject (relative fitness measure) for beauty. The fittest genotypes then bred in proportion to their fitness, with crossover and mutation of the binary strings, to produce offspring which were again rated by the subject. This process continued until the most beautiful face, for that subject, was evolved. Forty Caucasian subjects (20 M, 20 F) were required to evolve their idealized beautiful female face using this procedure. The features and soft tissue anthropometrics of their final composites were compared to population norms. Also, the final composites, and different faces generated from the same data base, were rated for beauty by independent judges. The results support the conclusion that the concept of facial beauty is the result of sexual selection, and a beautiful female face has features and proportions indicative on high fertility.

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What's in a face? Facial appearance associated with emergence but not success in entrepreneurship
2022, Leadership Quarterly
Citation Excerpt :
The second facial characteristic we examine, cheekbone prominence, is the ratio of cheekbone width divided by jaw width. Research indicates that cheekbone prominence is associated with attractiveness (Tanner, 1978; Keating, Mazur, & Segall, 1981; Cunningham et al., 1990; Enlow, 1990; Johnston & Franklin, 1993; Thornhill & Gangestad, 1993; Scheib et al., 1999) – specifically, higher, wider cheekbones, and narrower cheeks are related to greater perceived attractiveness. For example, Cunningham et al. (1990) used two dimensional images of human faces from three male Caucasian populations and showed a significant association between cheekbone prominence and male attractiveness.
Facial appearance has been associated with leader selection in domains where effective leadership is considered crucial, such as politics, business and the military. Few studies, however, have so far explored associations between facial appearance and entrepreneurship, despite the growing expectation that societies project on entrepreneurs for providing exemplary leadership in activities leading to the creation of disruptive start-ups. By using computer vision tools and a large-scale sample of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs from Crunchbase, we investigate whether three geometrically based facial characteristics - facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), cheekbone prominence, and facial symmetry - as well as advanced statistical models of whole facial appearance, are associated with a) the likelihood of an individual to emerge as an entrepreneur and b) the performance of the company founded by that individual. We find that cheekbone prominence, facial symmetry and two whole facial appearance statistical models are associated with the likelihood of an individual to emerge as an entrepreneur. In contrast to entrepreneurship emergence, none of the examined facial characteristics are associated with performance. Overall, our results suggest that facial appearance is associated with the emergence of leaders in the entrepreneurial endeavor, however, it is not informative about their subsequent performance.
Quantitating the art and science of esthetic clinical success
2021, Journal of the World Federation of Orthodontists
Beginning with the biobehavioral bases of esthetic experiences, this article presents a quantitative analytic review of the motives and methods of providers and consumers of orthodontic treatment.
A primary focus is determining the anthropometric bases of self and others’ perceived preference and satisfaction with changes in facial appearance. These quantitative analyses have been based on determining the frequency and magnitude of reliability and validity measures of diagnosis, treatment, and satisfaction outcome. Socioeconomic considerations are also quantitated regarding the discrepancy between objective need for treatment as determined for example by the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need and the subjective demand for treatment.
The major contribution of this article is the quantitation of the components of esthetic experience from sensation of perception using psycho physical methods, such as Perceptometrics, for determining the morphological basis of perceived facial attractiveness adjusted for ethnocultural differences updated by 3-dimensional and artificial intelligence technology. Recent quantitation of smile components has also added to the measures of esthetically successful treatment. Further contribution of orthodontists to mental and physical health is demonstrated by the differences between perceived personality attributes in profile and full-frontal views of symmetric and asymmetric faces. Such information can facilitate the clinician's ability to determine the ideational representation of the patients’ perceived pre- and post-treatment outcome.
The quantitative analysis of the motives and methods involved in the orthodontic treatment process has been combined with the neurophysiological correlates of producing and observing/evaluation of the esthetic experiences of both patients and orthodontists/dentists.
Contribution of facial components to the attractiveness of the smiling face in male and female patients: A cross-sectional correlation study
2020, American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
Citation Excerpt :
The 60 orthodontic patients were divided into 30 men and 30 women, and some distinctions were found according to gender. Previous studies have shown that sexual dimorphism plays an essential role in attractiveness, which could explain the differences.15,31,32 Feminine and masculine faces start to become differentiated in adolescence, as a sign of sexual maturity and the search for a partner.
Esthetic improvement is a key motivator in undergoing orthodontic treatment. This study aims to quantify the contribution of the smile and other facial components to the overall esthetics of attractiveness.
The attractiveness of 60 subjects (30 men, 30 women), aged 18-35 years, before orthodontic treatment, was retrospectively evaluated by 8 laypersons using the Visual Analog Scale. Pearson and stepwise correlations were calculated between the attractiveness of the smiling face and the attractiveness of facial components; namely the smile, nose, eyes, hair, chin, eyebrows, and skin.
A strong correlation between the face and smile attractiveness was found (r = 0.71) for the whole sample. No significant correlations were found between attractiveness and the other facial components. When divided by gender, the smile (r = 0.70) and the eyes (r = 0.51) correlated with the attractiveness of the smiling face for men. For women, the face registered a significant correlation with the smile (r = 0.83) and the skin (r = 0.37).
In general, smile attractiveness was strongly correlated with the attractiveness of the smiling face, which is the only significant component. For men, the smile was responsible for 49% of the variation in the attractiveness of the smiling face, the eyes for 22%, and the hair for 6%. For women, 69% of the variation in facial attractiveness could be attributed to smile.
Evidence supporting nubility and reproductive value as the key to human female physical attractiveness
2019, Evolution and Human Behavior
Selection should favor mating preferences that increase the chooser's reproductive success. Many previous studies have shown that the women men find most attractive in well-nourished populations have low body mass indices (BMIs) and small waist sizes combined with relatively large hips, resulting in low waist-hip ratios (WHRs). A frequently proposed explanation for these preferences is that such women may have enhanced health and fertility; but extensive evidence contradicts this health-and-fertility explanation. An alternative view is that men are attracted to signs of nubility and high reproductive value, i.e., by indicators of physical and sexual maturity in young women who have not been pregnant. Here we provide evidence in support of the view that a small waist size together with a low WHR and BMI is a strong and reliable sign of nubility. Using U.S. data from large national health surveys, we show that WHR, waist/thigh, waist/stature, and BMI are all lower in the age group (15-19) in which women reach physical and sexual maturity, after which all of these anthropometric measures increase. We also show that a smaller waist, in conjunction with relatively larger hips or thighs, is strongly associated with nulligravidity and with higher blood levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a fatty acid that is probably limiting for infant brain development. Thus, a woman with the small waist and relatively large hips that men find attractive is very likely to be nubile and nulliparous, with maximal bodily stores of key reproductive resources.
Construction of Facial Composites from Eyewitness Memory
2023, Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
Origins of attractiveness and their significance in aesthetic medicine
2022, Journal fur Asthetische Chirurgie

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View full text

Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?

Abstract

Average faces are attractive, but very attractive faces are not average

Psychological Science

The role of adipose tissue and hyperinsulinemia in the development of hyperandrogenism in women

Adipose tissue distribution and function

International Journal of Obesity

Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypothesis tested in 37 cultures

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Tracking a criminal suspect through “face-space” with a genetic algorithm

Measuring the physical attractiveness: quasi-experiments on the sociobiology of female facial beauty

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

The blind watchmaker

Body fat mass, body fat distribution and plasma hormones in early puberty in females

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

Relationship of androgenic activity to body fat topography, fat cell morphology and metabolic abberations in premenopausal women

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

Anthropometry of the head and face in medicine

The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection

Genetic algorithms in search, optimization and machine learning