Re: BOOKS: Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty

J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Thu, 9 Sep 1999 08:34:12 -0700

Robert J. Bradbury wrote,
> ...The self-selection of
>attributes presumably depends to some degree on how one perceives
>those attributes will be received by those around you. From
>my perspective, a more significant question is, what attributes
>will individuals select, when anyone can select them? Will
>they select the putative biological "norms" that have been most
>successful, or will individuals attempt to distinguish themselves
>from the "norm" in creative, unusual or even freaky ways?

Perhaps unconscious genetically motivated behaviors will determine what attributes individuals select. Selection based on perceived beauty may also derive from unconscious genetically organized factors such as neurological hard-wired patterns of symmetry which appeal to the eye on the basis of that very symmetry. Even new born babies prefer pretty faces to ugly ones. (pretty = symmetrical with balanced proportions)