• Question: Why are some people attractive to me but other people think they're ugly?

    Asked by anon-187185 to Stewart, Miriam, Marton, Laura, Kathryn, David on 13 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: David Ho

      David Ho answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      I’m no expert on this, but I know that the things we find attractive differ a lot between people. I think there are a lot of factors, some to do with the experiences we’ve had, and others to do with how we’re put together, that determine what we find attractive. It’s fine for people to disagree on this kind of thing, there’s no single set of qualities that anybody can say is “attractive” or “unattractive”!

    • Photo: Stewart Martin-Haugh

      Stewart Martin-Haugh answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      There is a theory that more symmetrical faces look more attractive. However, completely symmetrical faces look kind of weird:

      And of course, there’s a big difference between agreeing that someone is beautiful and finding them attractive – as David says, that seems to come down to personal experiences and preferences.

      I don’t think I’d like to live in a world where we all found the same people attractive and ugly.

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