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eauty is a characteristic of a person, that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An “ideal beauty” is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection. The experience of “beauty” often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Because this is a subjective experience, it is often said that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” In its most profound sense, beauty may engender a salient experience of positive reflection about the meaning of one’s own existence. A subject of beauty is anything that resonates with personal meaning. The classical Greek adjective for “beautiful” was καλός, kalòs. The Koine Greek word for beautiful was ὡραῖος, hōraios, an adjective etymologically coming from the word ὥρα, hōra, meaning “hour.” In Koine Greek, beauty was thus associated with “being of one’s hour.” A ripe fruit of its time was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful. In Attic Greek, hōraios had many meanings, including “youthful” and “ripe old age.” Although style and fashion vary widely, cross-cultural research has found a variety of commonalities in people’s perception of beauty. The earliest Western theory of beauty can be found in the works of early Greek philosophers from the pre-Socratic period, such as Pythagoras. Classical philosophy and sculptures of men and women produced according philosophers’ tenets of ideal human beauty were rediscovered in Renaissance Europe, leading to a re-adoption of what became known as a “classical ideal”. In terms of female human beauty, a woman whose appearance conforms to these tenets is still called a “classical beauty” or said to possess a “classical beauty”, whilst the foundations laid by Greek and Roman artists have also supplied the standard for male beauty in western civilization. The characterization of a person as “beautiful”, whether on an individual basis or by community consensus, is often based on some combination of Inner Beauty, which includes psychological factors such as personality, intelligence, grace, politeness, charisma, integrity, congruence and elegance, and Outer Beauty, (i.e. physical attractiveness) which includes physical factors, such as health, youthfulness, facial symmetry, averageness, and complexion. Standards of beauty are always evolving, based on what a culture considers valuable. Historical paintings show a wide range of different standards for beauty. However, humans who are relatively young, with smooth skin, well-proportioned bodies, and regular features, have traditionally been considered to be the most beautiful throughout history. A strong indicator of physical beauty is “averageness,” or “koinophilia.” When images of human faces are averaged together to form a composite image, they become progressively closer to the “ideal” image and are perceived as more attractive. This was first noticed in 1883, when Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, overlaid photographic composite images of the faces of vegetarians and criminals to see if there was a typical facial appearance for each. When doing this, he noticed that the composite images were more attractive compared to any of the individual images. Researchers have replicated the result under more controlled conditions and found that the computer generated, mathematical average of a series of faces is rated more favorably than individual faces. Evolutionarily it makes logical sense that sexual creatures should be attracted to mates who possess predominantly common or average features. People are influenced by the images they see in the media to determine what is or is not beautiful. Beauty ideals may also promote racial unity. Mixed race people are often perceived to be more attractive than their parents because their genetic diversity protects them from the inherited errors of their individual parents. The concept of beauty in men is known as ‘bishōnen’ in Japan. Bishōnen refers to males with distinctly feminine features, physical characteristics establishing the standard of beauty in Japan and typically exhibited in their pop culture idols. Beauty presents a standard of comparison, and it can cause resentment and dissatisfaction when not achieved. People who do not fit the “beauty ideal” may be ostracized within their communities. However, a person may also be targeted for harassment because of their beauty. Researchers have found that good looking students get higher grades from their teachers than students with an ordinary appearance. Furthermore, attractive patients receive more personalized care from their doctors. Studies have even shown that handsome criminals receive lighter sentences than less attractive convicts. How much money a person earns may also be influenced by physical beauty. One study found that people low in physical attractiveness earn 5 to 10 percent less than ordinary looking people, who in turn earn 3 to 8 percent less than those who are considered good looking. Discrimination against others based on their appearance is known as lookism. St. Augustine said of beauty “Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.”ALAN VALDEZ
BRET VAN ZANT
ANDREAS VELENCOSO SEGURA
TYLER DAVIN
DAVID GANDY
RADOSLAV VANKO
JOSH WALD
MATTHEW JETT SCHAEFER
JED HILL
MATT SCHIERMEIER
TODD SANFIELD
GARRETT NEFF
GREGORY PARKER
TYLER BACHTEL
NOAH MILLS
MIGUEL IGLESIAS
KYLE LEDEBOER
RAUL BOVA
RICHIE KUL
T.J.WILK
CARLOS FREIRE
BERNARDO VELASCO
ALBERTO GUZMAN
CHRIS FARELL
DROR OKAVI
RUSTY JOINER
FERNANDO FERNANDEZ
MARCUS SCHENKENBERG
KEVIN GOULD
LEE KHOLAFAI
MATTHEW SCRIVENS
CORY BOND
RAMIRO FUMAZONI
BRYAN THOMAS
MAX WETTSTEIN
PHILIP FUSCO
DANIEL JARRETT
RYAN BARRY
AGUS SUARJANA
ALLEN WALKER
BAK JEA MIN