You asked for it - can we all agree on her attractiveness since we are exposed together to it so frequently here on FR?
Posted on 12/13/2007 3:36:30 PM PST by blam
Close Relations Exhibit Greater Agreement On The Attractiveness Of Faces
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2007) — A new study from researchers at Harvard University shows that friends, siblings and spouses are more likely than strangers to agree on the attractiveness of faces. Recent research regarding facial attractiveness has emphasized the universality of attractiveness preferences, and in this study there was some agreement among the strangers - but the close relations were in even greater agreement regarding facial attractiveness.
The study appears in the current issue of the journal Perception, and was led by Richard Russell, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, and Matthew Bronstad a postdoctoral researcher at the Schepens Eye Research Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The work was done while Bronstad was with Brandeis University.
"While there are some universal standards of beauty, this study shows that perception and standards of attractiveness are more likely to be shared among individuals who know each other well," says Russell.
In the study, 113 participants were asked to rate 74 faces on a scale from one to seven, from very attractive to very unattractive. Among the participants were 20 pairs of spouses, 20 pairs of siblings and 41 pairs of close friends. Each of the pairs completed the test separately, so that they could not influence each other's ratings. The participants ranged widely in age, but were of a similar background, and were all North American and caucasian. The faces rated were all young and caucasian.
Participants who were part of a pair of close relations were also paired with another individual who they had not met, in order to form a pair of strangers. In analyzing the ratings, the researchers found that while the strangers' ratings of the faces were often similar, which was consistent with previous findings, the ratings of the spouses, siblings and close friends were markedly more in agreement.
Previous research has shown that while there are cross-cultural standards of beauty, there is greater agreement about facial beauty within cultures. This study narrows the focus of preferences for beauty within even smaller groups: individuals who know each other well and have personal relationships.
The researchers theorized that this greater agreement among close relations could stem from several different causes. Interestingly, the number of years that the pairs of people spent in daily contact was related to the strength of their agreement on facial attractiveness. This could be because those individuals who spent a great deal amount of time together saw many of the same faces on a day-to-day basis.
"Because close relations know and see many of the same people, their visual 'diet' of faces has been similar. It's likely that repeated visual exposure to the same faces could have an effect on their perception of what makes a face attractive," says Bronstad.
Further research will explore the possibility that attractiveness preferences are genetically determined. However, the siblings' ratings of the faces were not more closely correlated than those of the spouses or the close friends, which suggests that genetics is not the sole cause of facial attractiveness preferences.
Adapted from materials provided by Harvard University.
Duh!
My oldest son asked me, when our most recent baby was small, why our babies are cuter than everyone else’s babies. I said, “Because they look like you, Bill!” (Bill and Vlad are practically duplicates.) Of course, we have a tendency to find people who look like us more attractive, particularly our own children.
Pics. This thread cries out for pics!
Wow! What a worthwhile study!
Now that’s just wrong!
Who pays for this crap? Oh....yeah....that’s right, we do.
I agree. I have always theorized that people find familiar faces most attractive, which is why they find their own children so beautiful (when the rest of us may look at their spawn and realize they are...well....less than beautiful!);)
susie
Like this?
is that John and Yokos son?
Mmm, NO!
Bae Yong Joon. My favourite actor. Very Korean! LOL!
Hey, he’s kinda cute! Reminds me of a third cousin twice removed on my Father’s side.
ROTFLMAO!
Your little troll’s not amused?! I thought it was funny! LOL!
It’s the mother that the baby usually finds most friendly and the rest of the family would have some similar features and prefer that because of imprinting.
Aw, now there is a couple true cuties! I just love it.
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