Michael Wendt on mon 30 jul 07
A few years ago, Scientific American published an
article by a scientist studying the neural mechanisms
underlying the perception of beauty.
What a surprise...
Beauty uniformly across cultures and societies
was what he called "center seeking".
Example:
If facial features in a population consists
of a range of lip sizes, eye spacings, nose
sizes,... etc., people from that culture who
were asked to rate the relative beauty of
photos of faces from their native population
rated the most central
appearing as the most beautiful.
When they viewed faces from other
populations, they thought those that
looked the most like their central standard
of beauty were the best looking.
Thus, from early childhood, your brain is
sorting things by a hidden algorithm that
he thought had a genetic component related
to breeding true.
Even animals seek the most beautiful mates
they can obtain from a breeding population.
Might such a force (subtlely ) also
be at work in other fields like art and pottery?
That is to say, in each culture, the standard of
beauty derives in part from what a person is
exposed to on a daily basis. Even then, tastes
still vary from person to person so that beauty
really is in the eye of the beholder.
Regards,
Michael Wendt
Wendt Pottery
2729 Clearwater Ave
Lewiston, ID 83501
USA
208-746-3724
http://www.wendtpottery.com
wendtpot@lewiston.com
Lee Love on mon 30 jul 07
On 7/30/07, Michael Wendt wrote:
> When they viewed faces from other
> populations, they thought those that
> looked the most like their central standard
> of beauty were the best looking.
It would be curious to know if this is true cross-culturally.
I will try to find the study. For example, Japanese often tend to
see Westerners as being more beautiful than themselves.
> That is to say, in each culture, the standard of
> beauty derives in part from what a person is
> exposed to on a daily basis. Even then, tastes
> still vary from person to person so that beauty
> really is in the eye of the beholder.
It seems that the study actually tested biological
attractiveness and not beauty per say. Eros/attraction rather than
Agape/Beauty. Attraction is advantageous for the survival of "your
kind." While beauty is something separate from these kinds of
biological desires. A "big" pottery jar is appealing to us through
Eros, because of its size.
I think attractiveness has been used in marketing to pass as
beauty. Sex is often used in advertising. It is obvious that
Japanese and Germans can design cars that can appeal to Americans,
both on the level of beauty and sexual attaction. Quote on Eros and
Agape below:
"Eros is acquisitive, egocentric or even selfish; agape is a giving
love. Eros is an unconstant, unfaithful love, while agape is
unwavering and continues to give despite ingratitude. Eros is a love
that responds to the merit or value of its object; while agape creates
value in its object as a result of loving it... Finally, eros is an
ascending love, the human's route to God; agape is a descending love,
God's route to humans.."
In the East we would say these types of feelings come from
different chakras or energy centers of the body.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
Henry David Thoreau
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
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