What Makes A Face Attractive?
This article was originally posted on ScienceofPeople.com as Is a Symmetrical Face the Key to Attractiveness?
Science never ceases to surprise me. But, in this segment of ‘Did You Know?’ we just might surprise you! Did you know that if you have a symmetrical face, the more attractive you seem to others? Yes, symmetrical faces are known to be sexy.
This means that facial symmetry is more important than any other physical quality when it comes to how good looking someone is. For example: Here is an image of Beyoncé with a black line splitting her face right down the middle.
(Fig.1)
If you look at the image very closely, you can see that her face is actually not perfectly symmetrical. But when we use a computer program to make her face symmetrical, it makes her more attractive than she already is.
(Fig. 2)
In the photo above, her right side is mirrored so that it is perfectly symmetrical. Studies have shown that our brains love looking at perfectly symmetrical images. So our brains technically favor the computerized image over her real face from Fig.1 (the original image).
Here is another example with Leonardo DiCaprio. Again, this is an image with a black line splitting his face right down the middle.
(Fig. 3)
Now let’s look at the side made to be perfectly symmetrical.
(Fig. 4)
As you can tell, the left side looks quite different from the original. But again, our eyes love to see that symmetrical image, no matter how gorgeous a person might look without the symmetry.
(Fig. 5)
The photo above is an image of the computer program duplicating the right side of his face. And even though Leo looks different here, remember that symmetry is sexy.
So the next time you are checking someone out, ignore looking at their the biceps or chest, and try looking straight at them. And for goodness sake, remember, symmetry is only one aspect of beauty.
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Originally published at www.scienceofpeople.com on September 22, 2016.
