beauty

Understanding The Self GE1

Objectives:
•Discuss the different perspectives
of beauty according to philosophy
and psychology
•Explain the importance of
appreciating one’s beauty
“The best and
most beautiful
things in the
world cannot be
seen or even
touched - they
must be felt by
the heart ~
Helen Keller”
Is beauty
subjective
or
objective
?
Western
Western Philosophical
Philosophical View
View
Before eighteenth century
St. Augustine
• St. Augustine asked
whether things were
beautiful because it gave
delight, or whether it gave
delight because it was
beautiful. He believed it to
be the latter.
Plato
• Plato connected beauty as
a response to love and
desire. He asserted that
beauty exists in the realm
of Forms, and that objects
are found beautiful because
they are a reflection of the
idea of beauty that already
exists in the realm of
Forms.
Aristotle
• Aristotle asserted that the
chief forms of beauty are
order, symmetry, and
definiteness that can be
demonstrated by
mathematical sciences.
Western
Western Philosophical
Philosophical View
View
After eighteenth century
David Hume
• “Beauty is no quality in things
themselves: It exists merely
in the mind which
contemplates them; and each
mind perceives a different
beauty. One person may eve
perceive deformity , where
another is sensible of beauty;
and every individual ought to
acquiesce in his own
sentiment, without pretending
to regulate those of others”
Immanuel Kant
• The judgement of taste is
therefore not a judgement
of cognition and is
consequently not logical
but aesthetical, by which
we understand that whose
determining ground can be
no other that subjective.
Francis Hutcheson
• “The perception of beauty
does depend on the
external sense of sight;
however, the internal sense
of beauty operates as an
internal or reflects sense.
The same is the case with
hearing; hearing music
does no necessarily give
the perception of harmony
as it is distinct from the
hearing”
Psychology
Research
A person who is perceived
as attractive makes more
money than a person with
below average looks. In
politics, voters who are not
actively engaged in social
and political issues choose
candidates based on
“looks” ninety percent of
the time
Cognitive bias
• A cognitive bias is an error in reasoning, evaluating,
remembering or any other mental process that is often a
result of holding on to one’s preferences and beliefs
regardless to contrary information
halo effect
• Refers to the tendency of
people to rate attractive
individuals more favorably
for their personality traits or
characteristics as
compared to those who are
less attractive
Evolutionary psychology
• Faces hold certain
fundamental and important
characteristics that could
indicate a person’s quality
as a romantic partner and
as a mate
females
• For females an attractive
man is generally one with
relatively prominent
cheekbones and eyebrow
ridges and relatively long
lower face
males
• For males an attractive
woman has prominent
cheekbones, large ayes,
small noses, a taller
forehead, smooth skin and
an overall young or even
childlike appearance.
Cultural Traditions and
Body image
Culture
Culture
Culture
Body Image and Self-esteem
Self-esteem
• The term self-esteem was
coined by William James.
He defines is as the number
of successes a person
achieves in the domains of
life that are important to
him/her, divided by the
number of failures that
occurred in those areas
Self-esteem
• in the sixties, behavioral
scientist defined self-
esteem in terms of an
attitude concerning one’s
worth as a person
• Self-esteem is important is
about how you value yourself
and how you feel others.
Body Image
• Is how you view your
physical body, whether you
feel you are attractive and
how you feel some other
people like your looks.
Body positivity
Body positivity
Body positivity
Body positivity
Body positivity
How important is physical
beauty?
Do not judge the
book by its cover
Physical beauty is extremely important

• The dictionary defines beauty as “the degree to

which a person’s physical traits are considered
pleasing or beautiful” this definition does not
indicate “WHO” determines what type of physical
traits is attractive and unattractive. Each of us has a
different physical beauty standard.
Self-image problems
• These arise when your looks do not match your beauty
standards. The problem is with our own beauty standards
and not with your looks. To have a positive self-image and
a higher self esteem you must fix your false beliefs about
physical attractiveness first.
fin