Attractiveness perception psychology

By M.Farouk Radwan, MSc.

Attractiveness perception psychology

Why do you find some people attractive and others not attractive?
Why can two people debate about the attractiveness of a person?
Is beauty in the eye of the beholder or are there universal beauty standards?

According to many recent studies there are many factors that affect the perception of attractiveness that are not related to physical looks at all!

In this article i will tell you about attractiveness perception psychology so that you can find the answers to these questions.

What affects the perception of attractiveness according to psychology

Here are some factors that affect the perception of attractiveness:

  • 1) Ease of processing: Studies found that people find faces which are easier to process by their brains more attractive. But what determines the ease of processing of facial features? Its familiarity and similarity !
  • 2) Familiarity and attractiveness: People get more attracted to faces they are familiar with. This means that complete strangers might find you less attractive then your acquaintances. One study has shown that the brain gets used to processing the images it sees often and that's why the models you see on TV can define your beauty standards for you without you noticing.
  • 3) Similarity and attractiveness: Another factor that impacts the perception of attractiveness is similarity. People might become attracted to those who have facial features that are similar to them, to one of their parents or to a person they loved before. In my book How to make someone fall in love with you i said that resembling any of these figures in any way can help you make a person fall in love with you
  • 4) Non physical traits that affects attractiveness: Psychologists found that non physical traits such as courage , sense of humor or self confidence greatly affect the perception of attractiveness. The study showed that people's perception of a person's attractiveness changed after they got to know more information about his personality!. That's another reason why complete strangers might find you less attractive than you really are
  • 5) Culture and the perception of attractiveness: The culture also affects the perception of attractiveness to a great extent. In some cultures ,that are to a certain extent isolated from the western definition of beauty, fat women are considered much more attractive than slim women. So your perception of attractiveness is also affected by your culture to a certain extent. (see Attractiveness and culture
  • 6) The need for attention: Some people have been brought up in such a way that they need more attention than others. Those people are very likely to get attracted to those who have features that are rare among their culture. For example a person who lives in a place where blonds are rare might only get attracted to blonds if he has an unmet need for attention

According to psychology the perception of attractiveness is not constant

Did someone tell you that you are not good looking before?
If i were you i wouldn't feel bad at all. According to these studies the perception of attractiveness is not stable and it changes from one person to another.

Even for the same person new factors might happen that affect his own perception of attractiveness and so forces him to change his opinion about the attractiveness of others.

2knowmysef is not a complicated medical website nor a boring online encyclopedia but rather a place where you will find simple, to the point and effective information that is backed by psychology and presented in a simple way that you can understand and apply. If you think that this is some kind of marketing hype then see what other visitors say about 2knowmyself.The book How to make someone fall in love with you was released by 2knowmyself.com; the book will dramatically increase your chance of letting someone fall in love with you.

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