Why is symmetry so important to our concept of beauty?

1. 60

   Daniel J. Neumannposted 14 years ago

   Why is symmetry so important to our concept of beauty?

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2. 59

   kawsar ahmadposted 14 years ago

   We see lack of symmetry as deformity and we feel naturally repelled by deformity because its odd to us and we're generally not comfortable with it at first and as such it is a case of why dont we see deformity as beauty but that just seems to naturally be the case that we're attracted to beauty and not to deformity

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3. 62

   MickSposted 14 years ago

   If you are referring to human beauty, we don't, well except, an arm on each side, a leg...
   However, a few years ago, some bright spark took photographs of some of those people in society that are known as beautiful.  He split the pictures of the faces longitudinally, threw one half away and duplicated and reversed  the remaining halves and put them together, producing quite sinister, symmetrical faces, it seems asymmetry is the way to go for beauty.

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4. 61

   peterxdunnposted 14 years ago

   The human brain always looks for patterns because they're easier (less effort) to remember. This is why we see things like 'faces in the fire' or 'in the clouds' or even the 'man in the moon'. Our brains will see symmetry: such as the familiar symmetry of the human face, even when it isn't, actually, present.
   
   When a guy spots a good looking girl he might turn to a friend and say something like, "She 's easy on the eye'. which is the same as saying that he will retain her image in memory for longer than that of the last ten people he walked past without even noticing.

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5. 59

   Julie Burkeposted 14 years ago

   Historically, asymmetry probably was highly correlated to disease processes. Now that most of us aren't deformed by disease or disaster, mild asymmetry can be seen as a quirky uniqueness and may be more interesting that perfect symmetry. Of course, it might be more interesting because we're looking hard to see if there is a problem...

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