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Quantifying beauty: the equation is a beast.

Article Excerpt
The Psychology of Physical Attraction. By Viren Swami and Adrian Furnham. East Sussex, England: Routledge, 2008, 222 pages. Paperback, $24.95.

As the title clearly suggests, this book reviews research on what we find attractive, and why. As attraction is a complicated phenomenon, such an agenda proves a challenging task. In early chapters, the authors situate the topic within historical and contemporary contexts. Our earliest attempts to understand and quantify beauty are traced to the ancient Greeks, and Leonardo DaVinci's illustration of Pythagorean "golden ratios" of human anatomy in Vitruvian Man (c. 1492). Given the apparent power of attractiveness to influence our lives, it is hardly surprising that half a millenium later, we are still seeking the elusive formula for beauty, quantifying waist-to-hip and chest-to-shoulder ratios, body mass indexes, facial symmetry, height, leg length, and foot size, all of which are explored in the book.

The first chapter's attempt to contextualize the topic begins with a review of findings on attraction and impression formation. Such data (which are probably not new to the reader but are usefully reiterated) suggest that people who are attractive are rated more favorably with regard to personality traits (such as honesty and trustworthiness), probable life outcomes (academic and career success, as well as marital happiness), and popularity. Preferential treatment afforded the more attractive among us include more personal space, lower criminal conviction rates (and often lesser sentences as well), and greater chances of being hired for jobs, receiving higher salaries, and being evaluated favorably at work. The fact that attractiveness biases operate less strongly with close associates than with...

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