Week 3- Beauty as a social construct Flashcards
What is the prediction of attractiveness?
Perceptions of attractiveness should be arbitrary and vary considerably between cultures.
How does beauty impact evolutionary theory
A method for choosing a healthy mate.
What are the predictions of beauty and evolutionary theory
Similar preferences across cultures
Attractiveness means health and fertility
What is variability?
There is variation in any population
What is heritability
Some part of this variation between individuals is passed from parents
What is selection?
Some individuals are more successful at surviving and reproducing.
What do the evolutionary traits link to success in competition determine?
Traits linked to success in competition increase in frequency in the population (due to differential reproduction)
What does human facial attractiveness tell about the face owner?
Good genes, good development and behaviour
What does face attractiveness indicate?
Predicts longevity, probability of reproductive success for offspring, probability for not staying single.
What is more attractive? Averageness or individual faces
Averageness
What does the mere-exposure effect tell us?
We like what we see often. We abstract the average prototype from experience.
What happens when you change face shape?
Changing face shape to average does increase attractiveness
What does symmetry demonstrate?
Coping with challenges during growth
Symmetry indicates health and should be attractive.
What does the experiment with sparrows and zebras find?
Female barn swallows prefer males with symmetric tails
Female zebra finches prefer symmetric males
Macaque gaze longer at symmetrical face
What does femininty determine?
High oestrogen is associated with health and fertility
Feminised features are attractive in women
