If beauty isn't that important...?

Question

why to people talk about it all the time and make reference to people who are beautiful? Why don't people refer to someone's intelligence or kindness as much since these are better traits are they not?

Answer 1

Because everyone is so superficial & alwys want what they can't get.

Even if you were the most beautiful person in the world, you would still want to be even more beautiful!

it is just how people are.

& it is really stupid!

x

Answer 2

Everybody likes beautiful things. Even if you're a very ugly person, you will like beautiful persons.

You won't adore a rat more than a beautiful little puppy.

This is life. It isn't fair, but it is so.

Answer 3

yes they are much better traits. Beauty i believe truly is skin deep....as i like to say 'imperfection is beauty.'

But people today seemed to be ruled by appearances which i find so exasperating. It's all to do with the media i believe creating the ideal person....but most people fail to realise the pain those people go through to look the way they do, and most of its fake anyway, and airbrushed.

All i know is, don't let yourself get led on by others. If you believe the outer beauty of a person is not important, stand by it. I can assure you that you will have a much happier life. Concentrate on who you are inside. Too many people worry about their outer appearance thus they end up unhappy and depressed because they never bothered to concentrate on who they are inside and then they find they hardly know who they really are.

Love your soul cos its going to be with you forever

Answer 4

I think by beauty you mean physical beauty that wins all the importance all too often in the eye. There I believe is a point for discussion in this. This all too common in life that people imagine good and smart looking people to be intelligent, and even good and kind. The fact however is that they are just people like anyone else. It is also possible that such people might not be able to see themselves as beautiful, or really appreciate as what this could mean for the rest of their life to be blessed with such good looks.

I think physical beauty is a leading impression that some people carry, but this impression might not be lasting, or even good for any true comfort, as physical beauty could also become a barrier in the way of personal development and improvement. I think to be beautiful means to be responsible and able enough to stay beautiful even after the spell of initial impression has gone. What makes people and their impression beautiful in the mind and heart for long time to come is what people are inside. A kind face of a loving person, a brave effort of spirited person, for the sake of some good would always add yet another face to be known as beautiful in life.

Answer 5

Yes but what is the first thing you see when you walk up to someone.

I think personally think it's on in the brain.

Your brain will automatically think of the first thing you see and that is beauty.

If the intelligence or kindness was showing like beauty does then you will automatically think/say of them.

Answer 6

it is nature. The female of our species is made beautiful to attract a partner to procreate the species. Therefore the male will seek out the most beautiful for himself so that his offspring will be the 'best'.

This also happens in the animal/bird world with the exception of the peacock which is far more beautiful than the peahen.

Answer 7

You are right to value these better traits.  Partly the answer could be that we do not generally have the time or opportunity to see much further beyond the physical appearance of the person and so we tend to evaluate how they 'look' first.  And then it's kinda like you get stuck at first base.

Answer 8

Because humans have visual presentation built into their sociological brains, also attractiveness to the opposite s*x is natures way of furthering the species during the sexual act. If every person was ugly, then there would be less s*x taking place thus less humans being born.

Answer 9

When we first meet someone, a whole series of assumptions are made. There is what is called the 'implicit personality theory' developed by Asch where minimal information about a person can provide us with a coherent idea of what that person might be like since we're already in possession of pre-existing knowledge which evokes more information about that person. Sometimes, the easiest way to do this is simply to size a person up based on what they look like and this does not necessarily provide accurate assumptions.

Asch also maintained that the order you receive information about a person is also important in impression formation. That is, if a person shows positive traits before negative ones (e.g. intelligence, industrious, critical, stubborn), they create a better impression but if they were to show the negative traits before the positive ones (e.g. stubborn, critical, industrious, intelligence) , a worse impression is formed in spite of the person being exactly the same. It is important to realise that looks are often the first thing people recognise in another person and can dictate what they think of the rest of that person.

It is easier to perceive a person superficially. The modern information processing theory of social cognition in psychology maintains that social information processing is effortful and that capacity is limited and so, superficial strategies (or mental-short cuts) are undertaken instead of deep-processing strategies.

The importance of attractiveness is therefore overjustified. People see attractive people as intelligent, successful, happy, 'deserving', well-adjusted, socially skilled etc. = the what is beautiful is good stereotype (This stereotype can be seen everywhere e.g. the the Wizard of Oz Dorothy says to the good witch "witches are old and ugly" and the good witch says "only bad witches are ugly"). This is a self-fulfilling prophecy where because people have these expectations and act in response to these expectations, it comes to be so that attractive people are less anxious, more popular, more sexually experienced etc. All because it's cognitively easier to process a person superficially, meanwhile, people are saving deeper processing for getting to know someone after they've made their initial judgements.