Physical Attractiveness
 

Popular adages often tell us "Beauty is only skin depth" or "What really matters is a person's interior" even so research indicates how people how are more good-looking are treated better, have more friends and potential partners, earn more income, have better employment opportunities, are viewed as more intelligent, masculine or feminine depending on gender etc..

Actually good-looks matter a lot. Even if we denied it, we actually judge people by how the look almost unconsciously is a natural process. We always prefer what looks better and this may have linking’s to the evolutionary perspective of things.
If we see someone who isn't good looking or ugly, what are the chances we are going to speak to him/her not so great, there still may be but not so much
More recently I have read in my studies how good-looks determine even your grade on an essay!! And what really surprised me is that good-looking people actually have better self-esteem, one study indicated that how looks were at the top in the factors that influence dating, and we prefer good looking people NO MATTER THEIR PERSONALITY.

Isn't the same in Anime too? How we prefer the best looking characters or animation?

I have read how humans use thinks mental "shortcuts" in order to make sense out of the world.

People often tell you, you choose your destiny, you control your life but in scientific reality we are born with limitations, strenghts, and there are things that are already decided for us. How much we influence our life depends on many things. Is not as simple as people thing when they say "You choose your path"

What do you think of this? Is it unfair that some people have better advantage because they were born pretty? How you deal with this topic? How you deal with how your looks impact your life because...

Looks due matter AND A LOT!!

Do me a favour.
Bulletpoint your questions cause what you've written, I could make 3 essays out of them, it's too vague/broad.
What exactly are you asking us? What questions do you want answers for?
(For starters, more on anime attraction, or real life attraction, which may fall into the 'turn ons and turn offs' thread?)

Thanks for presenting your views on this as facts?
Actually, I have to agree with you for the most part. It depends from person to person, but I can't deny that we all are affected by aesthetics.

There ya go.

I am sorry to say this but what I have written are not my views those are the research findings on studies done, I study psychology on the university so I took this out of textbooks, I know is a hard truth.

Actually, what can be defined as good-looking is almost universal, this is another finding that shock me but some thing varies from culture.

First impression almost always come from sight and people always like to see aesthetically beautiful things, be it art, scenery or people. (Although perception of beauty may differ)

I myself am partial towards pretty girls until they broke the first impression. (True until proven wrong) I definitely agree that beauty helps to make life easier.

Life itself is not fair. Some are rich, some clever and some pretty. Many have none of these but life continues nonetheless.

I swear this thread wasn’t opened by you, Dilla. :p
It seems they're taking into account a lot of points, you know.
See broad as hell, heh.

If it's the basic:
Do looks matter?
Answer = Yes.
Is it unfair some people are born with good genes?
As unfair as some people born with illnesses while others are born healthy.
But again, OP said it themselves.
“Beauty is subjective, depending on culture and country.”
You could be ugly in one place, but beautiful in another.
How do we deal with this?
Depends on what kind of attitude a person has about life and their self confidence.

I wanted to embed this video but that function has been disabled in order to back up my initial answer (yes, looks count in life)
So I just paste here:
Susan Boyle's first audition performance

Now some of you may have heard her name float about in entertainment media lately, especially since she appeared on Opera (i guess American exposure)
She has reasons for creating a stir.
It wasn't simply cause she proved that she was talented, it was cause she owned so damn hard on hundreds, possibly thousands of people with her first audition by breaking physical prejudice.
Watch the entire video.
View the facial reactions at the start, view them when she begins singing and view them when she's done.
That's just simply human nature for you. :)

As she said, she's 47, unemployed (at the time), she's never been kissed, married, probably has been looked down upon in her entire life.
To take in her appearance is to probably instantly gain some form of negative view (you don't feel attracted) - which is natural, I won't be all righteous and go 'looks don't matter', they do and we as humans naturally react to them even without thinking or being aware sometimes.
She's probably aware of this herself and made a resolution to face it, break it and improve her life.
(I've not seen what she looks like as a finalist now, but I'm sure her appearance has been cleaned up a little)

Other points Mauru mentioned were:
- How do you personally deal with reactions to your own looks?
- Isn't the same in Anime too? How we prefer the best looking characters or animation?
- Do good looks go as far as affecting your grades at school?
(I'd like a citation for that Mauru, that steps into the education field, which as far as I've noticed/experienced, it doesn't make a difference for the teacher, so wanna know what you're basing that on)
Btw, textbooks != 100% hard truth, there are a lot of angry chinese out there who aren't too fond of Japanese when concerning textbooks, you know ;)

- Then again, taking into the battlefield that is "American Highschools" and the entire 'no uniform' thing and 'segregating into packs' from the cool people to the uncool people, could be taken into account, although that semi excludes uniform countries like the UK and Japan.

And then we could go into the entire relationships side.
Now we're in an digital era where relationships are formed both online and off.

Online = (Typically) Personality, then physicality
Offline = Physicality then personality.

Lots to choose from, so I was wondering what aspect Mauru wanted us to focus on; it’s too broad a topic :)

I think physical attractiveness does affect an individual's life. If you're good looking, you have a lot of advantages such as better job opportunities and people somehow treat you differently at first approach.

I think that beautiful people do have advantages in life, and this has been proven statistically, but while this is true I do not believe that, except for extreme circumstances (like if they;re actually physically deformed), that an ugly person with the same opportunities as a beautiful person will have a bad life because they are ugly. Sure, they may not make as much money as the pretty person, but if they have a good personality, they will find friends and happiness all the same. Particularly as people age, looks do not matter so much.

that being said, I do generally prefer that characters in anime/film/whatever are good-looking and not ugly.

"Do you think psychical attractiveness greatly impacts a person's life?"
of course! :D

Even if you didn't mean Ψ, then my answer is still yes
I wish though that we can select more than one because I would choose both 1) and 4)

@Mystique: I've never heard of Susan Boyle before, but that was wonderful! All the more I think answer 4) is also true in spite of 1).

That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with physical attractiveness per se, even admiring it for it's own sake. It's somewhat ironic that there's a taboo in the West that deems such attraction as superficial and yet we are allowed to admire the physical aesthetics of everything else. The big difference though, is recognizing it for what it is. That looks are separate from brains, from personality, from skills, etc. We all have some prejudices based on physical appearances and it doesn't bother me much as long as we can quickly drop those biases. (i.e. "Strong Opinions, Weakly Held")

For example, it's quite acceptable to recognize and refer to others as bijin in Japan.. I don't think saying such things can ever be as socially acceptable in the US

Take the idol industry as another example, while some outside of Japan would condemn it, there's no pretension that it is about anything else -- unlike the more acceptable "Miss XYZ" contests around in the world, where I think the real persona is still hidden behind their public mask.

Humm Beautiful person have amybe some advantage in life but I think there is some disadvanatge too. I mean when you're beautiful, you're the center of attention and if you're someone who don't like being the center of this attention, it's really annoying. People always flirt with you etc...So even if there is some advantage, there is some disadavantage too.

Personnaly, I'm not someone who judge other people on their appearance but I will not deny that I prefer good looking people over bad looking one and I think it's the same for everyone. I think it's important to take care of himself and the most important thing is that you're alright with yourself :)

Yes, I think it greatly impacts a person's life. All my life, I've observed that overweight or people with little physical beauty are often ignored or have few friends. They are seldom the center of attention. This happened in all my classes. However, not all beautiful people have a lot of friends. Some of them can be very snobbish and arrogant about their beauty, and this holier-than-thou attitude can drive people away.

I will say this, it is good to balance both outer and inner beauty. If you are not beautiful, well, try to do something about it. No one is born ugly in this world. Just a little touch up may reveal your beauty. And if you are beautiful, never think that you own the world. I have beautiful friends who are both friendly and selfish. I consider myself average, and thus I do not like to judge people by appearance. But you know, human eyes often hunt for beautiful things to feast on it, and sometimes you can't help but say " Wow, she is beautiful!" or "Oh my God, she really should see a doctor regarding her pimples".

I honestly believe that no it doesn't, as physical attractiveness in a person isn't the be-all & end-all of someone whatsoever, it's always their personality & what's truly inside that counts that will always make them the most attractive of all as far as I'm concerned :)

Really ? i often hear American people say 'you are beautiful ' to girls or 'She is cute'.
Are they different from referring to others as bijin 'Beautiful Woman' in Japan?

Well, of course attractive people have it easier. If you're goodlooking, people automatically assume you possess good character traits, whereas someone 'ugly' has to prove he's a nice and reliable person before being accepted as such.

It's stupid and unfair but it's how the human mind works. We judge first. The good people among us don't neglect a person totally after the first impression. But we always categorize first and look if we were right after that.
Might also just be a different style in fashion or lifestyle and not attractiveness that makes us think worse about someone, than he actually is.

On the other hand it's also a matter of how comfortable you are in your on skin, no matter what you look like. There are these beautiful wallflowers - that no one gets attached to because they are too quiet; there are the snobs that are so full of themsleves you can't bring yourself to like em; and then there are people who might not be attractive at all but are so extrovert and funny, you can't help but love them.
How you present yourself influeces A LOT how people see you.

But then again .... attractive people are more likely to be comfortable in their skin. Even so there are also a lot of people who are really good looking but still have a real low self esteem and have a high desire for being recognized.

So I think yeah there are advantages in being attractive, but in the end you 'shape your destiny' yourself, since it's in your hands how people see you. I don't think neat and nice person's have anything to fear, in regard of not being able to achieve the same things as someone attractive. Just choose a job that suits your character and everythings fine.

Everything is relative after all :P

Yes, physical attractiveness can impact a person's life positively or negatively. This is because a person can be physically attractive, but can also have a bad personality. Then again, it is argued that beauty is also comes from the inside too. Most people look at the beauty outside and don't look at the persons inside beauty since it matters because it determines the persons personality. This is because the beauty is the eye of the beholder, a person can determine that a person is beautiful while another person can say the person is ugly.

But, if they are both balanced, meaning having good physical attractiveness and personality, most of the perceived stereotypes don't apply. Theoretically, no person is ugly unless there is a physical deformity since it is determined by the person's opinion of that person.

I think physical attractiveness is quite important, but I prefer personality over looks. Looks aren't everything plus I think everyone is beautiful in their own way, I can find something good about everyone. I mean I know a few REALLY attractive people with bad personalities, but the average people are usually pretty nice, I mean I know a really attractive guy who is amazingly kind and caring so I guess it doesnt apply to everyone.. I know and understand people have different opinions but they shouldn't make physical attractiveness all they look for in a person.
I mean I am not particularily good looking, people like me for who I am and not for my looks. :)

Its all one package.... beautiful woman opens her mouth and sounds like an idiot? The beauty vanishes. Someone who's somewhat plain looking but incredibly entertaining, smart, witty? Tends to end up looking more cute/pretty.

Yeah, advertising may try to tell you that you look sucky so you'll buy their products... it takes a certain strength of character to say, "ain't wearing that crap, ain't wearing your logo" or "don't need makeup if I'm clean and healthy".

My view of makeup is either don't wear it or go nuts ala goth/punky/flair.... stop with trying to look "natural" :P it doesn't work.

Want to look good? Exercise, eat well, and keep yourself clean, eh?

We choose our on destiny, we can do whatever we want no matter what!

What a cheesy statement...but I can see me as a prove for that...I'm not really ugly just odd... I'm a girl who looks like a boy and wears boys cloth.(And lol I act like a boy) Yeaaah~ in the beginning everyone was like "ehm wut? you are retarded!" also I look reaaaally young for my age (which sucks).

But if you have a really good personality and really good charisma and are intelligent you can first surprise people. Having a great impact on there impression of you
The first time I showed that I was highly intelligent made them all go "Wuuuuuut!?" (since I often act like the happy-go-lucky) and I can charm people make them pay attention to only me when I talk. I can convince them and make them change their opinion and point of view until they don't even know what they wanted from me (okay they are still people who I can't talk over but I only met three or four of them till now). You could say I can "woo" people. I can do whatever I want with my future cause I worked hard on making a really good impression on the people around me (except my family...they still think I'm retarded and don't treat me seriously)

I think charisma is more important then looks. If you are really beautiful but don't have the right charisma your good looks won't bring you far. As long as you have a clean appear you can be "ugly" you can reach your goals when you try hard enough. Maybe good looking persons have a advantage, but hey...It's always likes some people always have advantages.

Yes,

No matter what, your appearance will dictate what people think about you. That will never change, ever.