ABSTRACT
Hypotheses about the configural properties make a face attractive found in folklore, ancient philosophy, and psychology. This chapter explains that straightness, symmetry, youthfulness, and the typicality of facial structure are keys to attractiveness as well as the notion that inner qualities beautify the face. There has been little systematic investigation of the Greek assertions regarding aesthetically pleasing proportions. However, some support is provided by research demonstrating "golden proportions" in vertical segments of the facial profiles and frontal views of beautiful women. This research has a systematic comparison of the facial proportions of attractive and unattractive people to determine whether the former are significantly more "golden." People's judgments of others' health are, therefore, "blinded by beauty." It is possible that they are also "shrouded by symmetry". The preference for symmetry in a normal population of faces is the overgeneralization of an adaptive aversion to more extreme asymmetry in individuals with genetic anomalies.
