I know the title does not make grammatical sense. But think about it. Normally we focus a lot on who is beautiful. Not so much on the why. I’ve alluded in the past to the evolutionary reasons behind beauty. This idea is expounded in detail by Nancy Etcoff in her book Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty, which makes the case that “looking good has survival value, and that sensitivity to beauty is a biological adaptation governed by brain circuits shaped by natural selection”.
This is what boing-boing has to say about the idea:
Why do we think that certain things are beautiful? Because our ancestors did; it connotes an advantage to survival and reproduction.
When people are asked to describe a beautiful landscape they say the same thing: lake, river, mountain trees. We evolved to think it is beautiful becuase it is safe with escape routes.
When asked to describe beautiful people: clear skin, bright eyes, shiny hair — all of these things connote health fertility, protection.
There is interesting research backing up these claims:
Psychologists find that babies stare significantly longer at the faces adults find appealing, while the mothers of “attractive” babies display more intense bonding behaviors. The symmetrical face of average proportions may have become the optimal design because of evolutionary pressures operating against population extremes. Gentlemen may prefer blondes not so much for their hair color as for the fairness of their skin–which makes it easier to detect the flush of sexual excitement.
(source: Amazon’s review of the book.)
While looking into the background of these claims, I stumbled onto a bunch of fascinating facts about beauty and related aspects (like the handicap principle) that I plan to cover in future posts. Stay tuned.