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.

[Monkey Face]

Get a GRIP!

If I were a sucker for every "pretty face" that came into my life, I'd drop my drawers in a heartbeat. And all that would be left is a memory and a chalk mark on the wall.

Women are as obvious about sex as men are...Who raised you and why do you think the "truth" is in the bed you just crawled out of?

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Cyborg ? In life, there are going to be things and people who shape your opinion about life itself.
Yes, all of us in life have had our good times, and bad times, and that is a part of life.
I have learned though, to not mix up my thoughts, opinion's and attitudes about GOD because of how people are in the church or in life.
Remember ? GOD'S ways are not our ways, God's ways are above our ways.
Some of us here on FR that are saying things that we know that we should not say, have gotten on the BANDWAGON of making fun of someone ( either because it's not right to say, or hurts someones feelings ) later, we will have to go to GOD and to say to GOD were are sorry and ask for forgiveness for some of the things we have said.
Remember ? ALL HUMANS ( in the book of ROMANS, it says " For ALL have sinned, and have come short to the glory of GOD " ALL HUMANS, are fallen creatures, NONE of us are PERFECT. Please ( I am not saying you do or don't , this is for anyone ) but, please ? you have to develop your own relationship with GOD, and you have to develop your own views, feelings about GOD on your own. Please don't hold it against GOD for what you have seen other people do.

[k2blader]

Also, I also hear that singles groups and events in some churches are like viper nests.

I'm glad to have never had to deal with that!!

My church is pretty small, so there are no real singles groups or events. But I don't know if that's a bad thing. :-)

[cyborg]

Thanks for the heartfelt reply. Actually, I've never been a church person, and prefer to stay at home. I drop in at odd times of the year but never felt comfortable. Just not my thing.

[Monkey Face]

Your image of "beauty in society" seems to be rather twisted. Or maybe it's because your life as you know it, is in a British, "Liberal" society.

In America, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and I, for one, try to retain the beauty around me.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

That , that picture of that woman reminds me of that TV show I saw, and that, that not only does it look unattractive, but, unhealthy.

[Monkey Face]

"Thanks for the heartfelt reply. Actually, I've never been a church person, and prefer to stay at home. I drop in at odd times of the year but never felt comfortable. Just not my thing."

It shows.

[cyborg]

Yes it's better to block out whatever the dominant media is throwing at you, and be independent. Otherwise a girl can get sucked in as I have. That experiment was first done way back in the 1950s. It's been repeated a few times since then and didn't have the same one sided results.

[Monkey Face]

Who are you and how old are you? You sound like a Third Grader. Please enlighten me...

[cyborg]

How does it show? I'm stating a fact. I don't like to sit in church.

[television is just wrong]

I cannot stand that woman Susan Esrich. She is gross her voice is gross.

[cyborg]

bump!

[blackbart.223]

"How does it show? I'm stating a fact. I don't like to sit in church."

Don't sweat it. Someone pissed in her Cheerios and she hasn't over it.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

What do you mean ? " society is not tolerant of imperfect women " ? you mean ? women too ? are also not tolerant of imperfect women ?
I don't know about you, but, I have seen women being more cruel towards other women, than men.
I think, men can be more tolerant of a imperfect woman, than can a man be tolerant or and or afraid of a VICIOUS VINDICTIVE woman.

[Monkey Face]

A person is only "sucked in" as far as that person allows him/herself to be.

Human nature says: There are no mistakes...only Lessons; Lessons will be repeated until they are learned. Learning does not end. You will forget all this at birth.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Same thing about SHOES on a man, whats up with that ?
So women pass a shallow judgment call on a man, because his shoes are not up to par with them.

[cyborg]

Eventually I'll get over it. I'm not as shy as I used to be.

[papertyger]

This can be a repeated for biracial babies, black babies adopted by white parents,etc.

They're telling us that's one thing to watch out for with our adoption from China. They say at some point she will probably express the wish that she looked like mommy and daddy. I'm a bit concerned; so far, all I've been able to preplan is a line about how "they don't make princesses in America, so we had to go where they do to find you." If that won't satisfy her, I don't know what I'll do.

[Monkey Face]

GET A GRIP!

You are not "all knowing, all seeing and all being."

You sound more like a troll than a real person...haven't I met you before? Do I smell OZONE?

[cyborg]

That may be true with some people, but it's not with others.