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.

[cyborg]

yeah but just imagine yourself as the pearl necklace

[TheBrotherhood]

I can see the contrast in these posts, but none whatsoever in the pictures in post #20 - they're both ugly, ugly in that post.

[speedy]

Why did I know she would be showing up here? You can almost hear the infants screaming in pain.

[Age of Reason]

The one on top looks like a vampire on drugs.

The one on the bottom has too wide a face, too angular a chin, too tight a mouth, and beady little eyes.

[LowOiL]

Both the pictures look like nice looking ladies to me. One is more tan is all I can tell, but with makeup both ladies facewise would be considered as pretty

IMHO...

[Nail]

This thread is going nowhere fast

[investigateworld]

Hmmmm (rubbing chin, squinting at screen) No. 1 looks like a high maintenance, fun weekends only nut case, while No. 2 appears to be life partner potential.

[glock rocks]

Yeek... the photographer needs to get out more often.

[sully777]

Sounds like women are programmed to like pretty faces too. What happens if babies are shown plain and handsome male faces?

---

If it is a female baby, researchers discovered a unique variable, a cognitive gene that instinctively determines how much success, power, fame, and wealth lies hidden behind his plain face. After careful study, researchers are finding a secondary yearning to change everything about that plain faced male, starting with the way he dresses.

[Disambiguator]

I love that picture of Susan Estrich. She looks like she is about to hurl. I suppose you could say she really is, based on the stuff that comes out of her mouth.

[GOPJ]

The male researcher who designed the study didn't think of your question...

What happens if babies are shown plain and handsome male faces?

[glock rocks]

Thank you.

[The South Texan]

Does this qualify as a pretty face?

[finnman69]

[doug from upland]

[glock rocks]

Does this qualify as a pretty face?

Only if this does.

[doug from upland]

CLASSIC FREEPER COMPARISON THREAD

[finnman69]

That picture is so so sooooooo wrong.

[cyborg]

horse's ass looks better

[Ben Chad]

I scrolled down, predicting to myself, that this picture would be posted! LOL