Standards of physical beauty in different cultures
History shows that models, “standards” of beauty are very
In Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the standards of male and female beauty were practically indistinguishable from the standards of the beginning of the 20th century, the century of the development of the Olympic movement.
In the Middle Ages, a fashion for pallor and thinness can be noted, but in the Baroque era, on the contrary, a fashion for corpulence appears (for example, in paintings by Rubens) and for potential fertility.
- Prehistoric times
At the end of last year, the international groupThe researchers found out that the Paleolithic Venuses - small stone figurines from 14 to 38 thousand years old - are not a symbol of the mother goddess and fertility, as was previously believed, but the ideas of ancient people about the beauty and ideal female figure.
This hypothesis is confirmed by the fact that the fattest figurines were found closest to the glaciers, where food was less and it was obtained with great difficulty.
XXI Century:
- Standards of female beauty
Currently, "high fashion" continuesadvertise the standard of female beauty as being extremely thin, very tall with a very narrow waist and long legs. A woman should have a graceful figure, photogenicity and have the famous parameters 90-60-90.
In Russia
In 2011, employees of the Southern FederalUniversity for the first time conducted a study of the essence of female beauty. Study participants were asked to answer questions about whether they have an ideal of a beautiful woman and who they consider to be their ideal.
The survey revealed that forFor most respondents, beauty has a specific visual image of real people. About 30% pointed to a collective image of a beautiful woman, created under the influence of samples replicated on television.
More often than others, respondents named the names of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Angelina Jolie.
When describing the standard of female beauty, a large proportionThose interviewed described her as slender, with long hair and big eyes. Women noted such important factors as external neatness and grooming, as well as neatness.
Men attached more importance to hair color andeye. When analyzing photographs of famous people named as the ideal of beauty, the following picture emerged: this is a brunette with large, bright, expressive eyes, average build and a proportionate figure.
Beauty and hormones
However, women's preferences quicklyare changing, British researchers note. And often this depends on the level of sex hormones, which fluctuates depending on the phases of the menstrual cycle.
So, during ovulation, the fairer sex is more like partners with very masculine facial features - a large chin, a heavy jaw and a wide forehead.
However, other studies do not confirm thesefindings. In an experiment by scientists from the University of Glasgow, participants generally also considered masculine faces more attractive, but this did not correlate with their hormone levels.
There is another concept in the theory of evolution that helps to understand why we have a sense of beauty. It is called the idea of "sensory displacement" or "sensory drive".
A living creature, first of all, needs to surviveand leave offspring, therefore our perception must be selective - most quickly it must isolate from the surrounding world the information that we need for survival and reproduction.
If our perception were all-encompassing, objective and non-selective, it would require very large resources of our body and ultimately would be ineffective.
Proportionality
Famous Russian biologist and popularizer of scienceAlexander Markov stated that a very reliable “indicator of fitness” for both humans and other animals is symmetry. The more symmetrical the body and face, the healthier and stronger the individual, as a rule, and the fewer harmful mutations in his genome.
Symmetry is generally the most important factor that determines whether a person is beautiful or not, as evidenced by numerous experiments.
This is probably why we like itemsthe correct shape, and we consider them beautiful, and especially if their symmetry is skillful enough, complex and slightly imperfect - for example, snowflakes. And it is precisely symmetry that, of course, is one of the main motives of the visual arts.
How does the environment affect?
The change in ideas about physical beauty does not depend on hormones, but on external factors, including the kind of people around us, say scientists from the University of Sydney (Australia).
In their experiment, women rated the attractiveness of 60 men from a photo. Each one lingered on the screen for only a third of a second, and during this time the participant decided whether she liked the person or not.
As a result, it turned out:The subjects consider the man in the picture attractive if they also liked the previous photo. Conversely, if the image did not appear to be very attractive, then they were more likely to rate the next photo negatively. In other words, the participants' perception of beauty actually changed every three seconds.
Neuroaesthetics
Neuroaesthetics is a science at the intersectioncognitive psychology, neurobiology and aesthetics. Its main task is to understand how the brain perceives works of art and what beauty is from a scientific point of view.
The term was coined by Semir Zeki, professor at University College London, British neuroscientist. This happened only in 2002. It turns out that science is really quite young.
The professor used neuroimaging technologies,to find out which parts of the brain are responsible for perceiving beautiful things. Zeki learned that this process occurs in the same place where a person evaluates the attractiveness of other people.
The experiment was as follows.Several dozen people looked at the paintings of Sandro Botticelli, Claude Monet, John Constable, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci and Paul Cezanne. At this point, their brains were scanned using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).
Zeki and his colleagues have found that the aesthetic response to listening to beautiful music, contemplating pleasing images, and evaluating people's attractiveness occurs in the same areas.
Zeki himself compared the artist to a neurologist.Painters—most often unconsciously—use visual tools to impress the viewer, to explore the capabilities of the human brain and perception (that is, the reflection of reality by the senses).
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