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September 11, 2007
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Beauty: that which is easy to understand
Sept. 28, 2006
Special to World Science
Beautiful faces may be that way because our brains
process them easily, which could in turn be because they’re “prototypes” for our species, researchers
report in a study. These ideas, the scientists said, may explain why people tend to prefer average faces, as previous studies have
found. Girl with a Pearl Earring by the 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.
Averageness may signal that a face is a prototype—a standard or typical example of something, according to the scientists, Piotr
Winkielman of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues.
“A common explanation of this effect proposes that prototypicality signals mate
value,” they wrote in the September issue of the research journal
Psychological Science. “People tend to prefer highly
prototypical stimuli—a phenomenon referred to as the beauty-in-averageness effect.”
The researchers conducted experiments in which volunteers
categorized and rated the attractiveness of groups of dots or geometric forms. These varied in
“prototypicality.”
For instance, some dots were arranged so that they could be easily connected to form a square. Others were laid out so as to make a slightly
off-kilter square. The same was done for diamond shapes.
“When patterns were close to their respective prototypes, participants categorized them more
quickly and judged them as more attractive,” the researchers wrote. “For example, a distorted square might be judged unattractive because it is a ‘poor’ square,” lacking four equal sides.
Prototypicality was related to both the ease with which viewers categorized the images, and attractiveness, the researchers found. Moreover, ease of classification determined a pattern’s perceived attractiveness.
Perhaps we like prototypicality because there is “some biological value attributable” to it, the researchers wrote, but this is undetermined. Also, prototypicality is just one factor that influences the ease of processing something, they added; other factors are symmetry, clarity and repeated exposure.
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Beautiful faces may be that way because our brains process them easily, which could in turn be because they’re “prototypes” for our species, researchers have found in a study. The scientists said that these ideas may explain why people tend to prefer average faces, as previous studies have revealed. Averageness may signal that the face is a prototype—a standard or typical example of something, according to the scientists, Piotr Winkielman of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues. “A common explanation of this effect proposes that prototypicality signals mate value,” they wrote in the September issue of the research journal Psychological Science. “People tend to prefer highly prototypical stimuli—a phenomenon referred to as the beauty-in averageness effect.” The researchers conducted experiments in which volunteers categorized and rated the attractiveness of patterns of random dots or geometric forms. These varied in levels of “prototypicality.” For instance, some dots were arranged so that they could be easily connected to form a square. Others were laid out so as to make a slightly off-kilter square. The same was done for diamond shapes. “When patterns were close to their respective prototypes, participants categorized them more quickly and judged them as more attractive,” the researchers wrote. “For example, a distorted square might be judged unattractive because it is a ‘poor’ square,” lacking four equal sides. Prototypicality was related to both the ease with which viewers categorized the images, and attractiveness, the researchers found. Moreover, ease of classification determined a pattern’s perceived attractiveness. We may prototypicality because “there may simply be some biological value attributable” to it, the researchers wrote, but this is undetermined. Also, prototypicality is just one factor that influences the ease of processing something, they added; other factors are symmetry, clarity and repeated exposure.