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.

[sully777]

It's all a question of asthetically pleasing symmetric proportions.



Or to quote the Commodores

She's a brick----hawwwwsssss
Mighty might just lettin' it all hang out
She's a brick----hawwwwsssss
The lady's stacked and that's a fact,
ain't holding nothing back.

[Dan from Michigan]

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

I gotta remember that line!

[NewRiverAZ]

There are no "plain male faces". We are all very attractive. That is why we require a -very- attractive female to satisfy us.

[doug from upland]

[reg45]

Why Men Prefer Pretty Faces

Because they're pretty. Duh!

[Dont_Tread_On_Me_888]

If you showed a two-week old a photo of a Viper next to a rusted out late 1970s Chevy Vega, the baby would stare at the Viper.

Ugly is ugly, and babies can tell the difference.

[TheBrotherhood]

You don't really mean that, do you?

[martin_fierro]

FACE CLEAVAGE!

[cyborg]

LOL

[F16Fighter]

"This is nothing new. I could have saved them a lot of money and pointed this out to them."

How much would they pay us to gather focus groups and ask them to compare Helen Thomas and Whoopie Goldberg to Anna Kornikova and Misha Barton?

I'd like to see the study:

'Why Men DON'T Prefer Liberal B*tches' :-D

[Billthedrill]

Face-smace, give me cleavage.

Dang right. I never get in trouble for looking at a woman's face. Psychologists just don't know what's important.

[F16Fighter]

Aaah, finally.

The face that launched a thousand barf-bags.

[finnman69]

[doug from upland]

[Age of Reason]

I probably shouldn't be proud of my highly critical taste: some gallant once remarked that noticing a woman's imperfections is the first sign of impotence.

[cyborg]

LOL

[cyborg]

ROTFL!

[deepFR]

Does not seem like a very scientific test and small sampling to attempt to make such a large point.

[Wormwood]

Oddly enough, it took two minutes of close examination before I found a face in those pictures.

[finnman69]

Compare to CZJ above