Beauty is a characteristic of an animal, idea, object, person or place that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. An "ideal beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection.
Ugliness is considered to be the opposite of beauty.
The experience of "beauty" often involves an interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Because this can be a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." There is evidence that perceptions of beauty are evolutionary determined, that things, aspects of people and landscapes considered beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give enhanced survival of the perceiving human's genes.
THE HUMAN BEAUTY
The characterization of a person as “beautiful”, whether on an individual basis or by community consensus, is often based on some combination of inner beauty, which includes psychological factors such as personality, intelligence, grace, politeness, charisma, integrity, congruence and elegance, and outer beauty (i.e. physical attractiveness) which includes physical attributes which are valued on an aesthetic basis.
Standards of beauty have changed over time, based on changing cultural values. Historically, paintings show a wide range of different standards for beauty. However, humans who are relatively young, with smooth skin, well-proportioned bodies, and regular features, have traditionally been considered the most beautiful throughout history.
A strong indicator of physical beauty is "averageness".
What is average and what is not average about attractive faces?. The notion that facial attractiveness cane be defined by the mean of a population of faces has appeal because it provides a parsimonious answer to the age-old question, “What is facial beauty?”.
The word average has many definitions, including undistinguished, typical, common and the arithmetic mean of a set of numbers, these different meanings have confused some readers. We use the term average only and strictly to denote the technical definition of the mathematical mean. Our average faces are not undistinguished; instead they’re quite good looking. Nor are they typical in the sense of common or frequently occurring population, they may be typical in the sense that they are good examples of faces or are representative of the class of faces. What is average about them is their facial configuration: averaging together a sample of whole faces produces a sample of facial configuration that is close to the mean configuration of a population of faces. Much research has shown that an average is often perceived as a prototype and like any prototype, the mean configuration of any faces should be perceived as a better example of a face and as more representative of the population of faces than are the individual faces on the set.
Although average faces are average in configuration, they are not average in attractiveness. The high attractiveness of averaged faces suggests that averageness is a characteristic of attractive faces.
When images of human faces are averaged together to form a composite image, they become progressively closer to the "ideal" image and are perceived as more attractive. This was first noticed in 1883, when Francis Galton overlaid photographic composite images of the faces of vegetarians and criminals to see if there was a typical facial appearance for each. When doing this, he noticed that the composite images were more attractive compared to any of the individual images. Researchers have replicated the result under more controlled conditions and found that the computer generated, mathematical average of a series of faces is rated more favorably than individual faces. It is argued that it is evolutionarily advantageous that sexual creatures are attracted to mates who possess predominantly common or average features, because it suggests the absence of genetic or acquired defects. There is also evidence that a preference for beautiful faces emerges early in infancy, and is probably innate, and that the rules by which attractiveness is established are similar across different genders and cultures.
A feature of beautiful women that has been explored by researchers is a waist hip-ratio of approximately 0.70. Physiologists have shown that women with hourglass figures (as we all know the figure 8) are more fertile than other women due to higher levels of certain female hormones, a fact that may subconsciously condition males choosing mates.
People are influenced by the images they see in the media to determine what is or is not beautiful. Some feminists and doctors have suggested that the very thin models featured in magazines promote eating disorders.
THE EFFECTS ON SOCIETY
Beauty presents a standard of comparison, and it can cause resentment and dissatisfaction when not achieved. People who do not fit the "beauty ideal" may be ostracized within their communities.
The television sitcom Ugly Betty portrays the life of a girl faced with hardships due to society's unwelcoming attitudes toward those they deem unattractive. However, a person may also be targeted for harassment because of their beauty. In Malèna, a strikingly beautiful Italian woman is forced into poverty by the women of the community who refuse to give her work for fear that she may "woo" their husbands. Researchers have found that good looking students get higher grades from their teachers than students with an ordinary appearance.
Some studies using mock criminal trials have shown that physically attractive "defendants" are less likely to be convicted—and if convicted are likely to receive lighter sentences—than less attractive ones (although the opposite effect was observed when the alleged crime was swindling, perhaps because jurors perceived the defendant's attractiveness as facilitating the crime). Studies among teens and young adults, such as those of psychiatrist and self-help author, Eva Ritvo, show that skin conditions have a profound effect on social behavior and opportunity.
How much money a person earns may also be influenced by physical beauty. One study found that people low in physical attractiveness earn 5 to 10 percent less than ordinary looking people, who in turn earn 3 to 8 percent less than those who are considered good looking. In the market for loans, the least attractive people are less likely to get approvals, although they are less likely to default. In the marriage market, women's looks are at a premium, but men's looks do not matter much.
Conversely, being very unattractive increases the individual’s propensity for criminal activity for a number of crimes ranging from burglary to theft to selling illicit drugs.
CONCLUSION
Beauty is to be shared...perhaps most important because beauty shared becomes more beauty. The greater the number of people who know beauty, the more beautiful the world is, and the more beautiful the world becomes as beauty inspires yet more beauty. So, whatever is beautiful, think on these things. Wisdom in the world has taught this truth for as long as humanity can remember. The world cannot become more beautiful or even remain beautiful without this.
Unfortunately, the same holds true for those things that destroy beauty in the world...like war. Beauty gives more beauty while those things destructively ugly sadly give more of such ugliness that destroys beauty.
Living in a beautiful city can inspire more beauty in one and what one does.
...the greatest beauty is in one's heart where one's awareness and comprehension of beauty begins...as a journey toward fullfilment and happiness.
There is no happiness without the heart.
God bless you all!!
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