Physical attractiveness: beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it changes with time and changing environment

Abstract

The term “physical attractiveness” has been defined by Zangwill¹ as “the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful.” Hatfield and Sprecher² on the other hand defined this term as “that which represents one's conception of the ideal in appearance; that which gives the greatest degree of pleasure to the senses.” While the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary³ and Symons⁴ long emphasised that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Several researchers have outlined specific physical features to signal an individual’s attractiveness.^5-12 Among these features are the individual’s facial features,¹³ hair thickness,⁵ and body size (i.e. waist versus hip circumference,^14,15 body weight and height ^16,17). For instance, Singh¹⁴ argued that low female waist to hip ratio (WHR, that is typically centred around 0.70) is attractive because it correlates with better health and fertility outcomes. Swami et al.¹⁵ on the other hand argued that Pieter Pauwel Rubens, the Flemish painter famed for his exuberant Baroque style, preferred female models that had WHRs and body weights that were much higher than the esteemed figure of WHR = 0.70. Buss¹⁸ further argued that some aspects of physical attractiveness are built within cultures, change with cultural standards, become unlearned at certain points in time, with certain physical features signalling individuals’ health and reproductive potential.