Why Men Prefer Pretty Faces

channels.netscape.com ^ | Feb. 18, 2004 | channels.netscape.com

[crushelits]

Why Men Prefer Pretty Faces

So you think beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Think again. According to new research from the University of Exeter in Great Britain, the preference for pretty faces over ugly ones is embedded in our brains from the moment of birth and possibly prior to birth.

Newborn babies come fully equipped with built-in preferences, including a preference for an attractive face, that help them make sense of their new environment, report the BBC News Online and Newsweek magazine. The Exeter researchers showed more than 100 infants two images that were placed side by side. One was of an attractive face, while the other was a less attractive face. The babies, ranging in age from five hours old to two days old, spent about 80 percent of the time looking at the attractive face, while barely glancing at the unattractive face.

"You can show them pair after pair of faces that are matched for everything other than attractiveness. This leads to the conclusion that babies are born with a very detailed representation of the human face," Dr. Alan Slater, a psychologist at Exeter, explained to the BBC News. Why would infants have this capability? "It helps them to recognize familiar faces--particularly that of the mother--and it helps them in learning about the social world. Attractiveness is not simply in the eye of the beholder, it is in the brain of the newborn infant right from the moment of birth and possibly prior to birth," he added.
When those babies grow up, the preference for pretty faces doesn't change. And it crosses all cultures and geography as well. When an insular European is shown the faces of two Africans, the one he chooses as most attractive is also the same one an African chooses. And it works the other way around when an African is shown the faces of two Europeans.

"Although we think that standards of facial beauty vary over time and culture, they don't actually change that much," Slater explained to Newsweek. The evidence indicates that there is a biological and universal standard."

So don't blame a man when he can't help but look at a pretty face! He's biologically programmed that way.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Looks like the alien had botox injections, and Susan didn't.

[LowOiL]

[blackbart.223]

"Not even a case of whiskey."

Agreed.

[cyborg]

Poke my eye out.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Now if you can put Susan's, and Nancy's P. pictures next to this picture of the alien, we can see the resemblance.
Warning ? this is what BOTOX injections can do to your face.

[elephantlips]

Beauty is a relative term. (I know because I have ugly relatives) The relativity of beauty is firmly entrenched in human history and how a newborn could lay there and make such judgments is beyond me. Although, I've seen some questionable looking mothers and fathers which probably explains why infants throw up.

[xm177e2]

We should cut babies out of the womb at 3 mo. just to figure out when they first become able to differentiate between the two.

Okay, that was a joke. But really, this is serious research.

[djf]

Objet d'art, n'est ce pas?

[dennisw]

Some of those Sophie Marceau nudes might well be fakes. Though she seems to be artsy enough to have posed nude. She isn't dumb. She wrote a book

[Monkey Face]

Lonely.

Just me and Hobbes. And she likes the courtyard.

Any suggestions?

*Never mind*

[cyborg]

Might as well wear no top. I don't get see through blouses at all.

[Monkey Face]

That is SO GROSS!!

GAH!!

Ptuuiieee!

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

That overweight lady in the pink dress with the belly hanging off the park bench has GOT to be photoshopped to get that effect!

~ Blue Jays ~

[Daaave]

Nicole Kidman

[midnightson]

'Beef Skirt Alert'

[end socialism now]

I wonder how this affects me wanting both olsen twins.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

I did ?
I meant, the picture, could stop traffic on a dime.

[blackbart.223]

"Poke my eye out."

That would gat the job done.

[cyborg]

What the hell is that between her legs??? I like big guys, but my own woman kind is another story. As long as I can see my own shoelaces I'm happy.