What is Beauty?

The perception of beauty is an intriguing concept that is not easily defined for several reasons. When simply typing the word "beauty" into a search engine, endless links become available, from the history of beauty, to the titles of popular songs, to photos of scenic places, to tips on how to become more beautiful. We hear the word beauty more than we realize each day. Do the sayings, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and "beauty is only skin deep" sound familiar? These phrases have been around for a long time, yet one may not take the time to actually let the thoughts sink in. A simple dictionary definition of beauty states that it is "a quality that provides pleasure to the mind or senses" (Beauty, n.d.). Of course, beauty is so much more than that. Although beauty may be felt with all of the senses, it is commonly associated with sight and it also typically relates to positive descriptive characteristics or emotions. Everyone perceives beauty differently. What one may see as beautiful, another may see as ugly or unappealing. Subconsciously, we go through life perceiving beauty in a similar way that the culture we belong to does. Everyone has aesthetic experiences, or feelings of pleasure evoked by stimuli that are perceived as nice, attractive, rewarding, or beautiful, but the way we appreciate them differs across individuals and across cultures (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). For example, Westerners comprehend beautiful stimuli and occurrences in a manner different than those of Indian culture. Although much research has been done contrasting the two cultures, a few similarities have also been found. Sometimes, one culture can influence the other culture as well in perceiving beauty.

Researchers have been studying the perception of beauty across cultures for centuries. They attempt to answer many questions about this topic, some simple, yet some difficult. Researchers want to know what aspects make one beautiful. To further this question, they ask why certain things are perceived as beautiful. They attempt to answer why some people see things as beautiful, but others do not. One way to answer these questions is by comparing two or more cultural groups– the western culture and the Indian culture.

References:

Beauty. (n.d.) in The Free Online Dictionary. Retrieved from: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/beauty

Shiraev, Eric B., & Levy, David A. (2010). Cross-Cultural Psychology: Critical Thinking and Contemporary Applications (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.