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9780230521872

Body Beautiful; Evolutionary and Socio-Cultural Perspectives

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780230521872

  • ISBN10:

    0230521878

  • Edition: 1st
  • Format: Trade Book
  • Copyright: 2008-01-22
  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
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Summary

The last decade has witnessed an exciting change in our understanding of what makes the human body beautiful, and why certain bodies are idealised over others. The traditional idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, with preferences varying idiosyncratically from person to person, has been challenged by evolutionary psychologists, who argue that human beings share an eye for an attractive body. Yet, not everyone is in agreement: cross-cultural evidence suggests that there may indeed be differences in what is termed an 'attractive body'. Moreover, social psychologists stress that preferences emerge early in development, with children as young as four or five years old mirroring core cultural assumptions about what is an attractive body. These findings raise intriguing questions about bodily attractiveness: just what are these preferences, why do we have them, and how did we get them? This book brings together seminal work from evolutionary and sociocultural perspectives, to explore these questions in a fresh perspective. Book jacket.

Author Biography

VIREN SWAMI is a Research Associate at the University of Liverpool. He received his doctorate from University College London, where he specialised in evolutionary psychology. His current research interests include interpersonal attraction, especially across cultures, and gender studies. He is the author of The Missing Arms of Venus de Milo and (with Adrian Furnham) of The Psychology of Physcial Attraction, as well as numerous psychological studies.
ADRIAN FURNHAM is an organisational and applied psychologist, management expert and Professor of Psychology at University College London. His research interests are numerous and varied, and in addition to his academic roles, he is a consultant on organisational behaviour and management, writer and broadcaster. He is a prolific writer, is the author, among other books, of The Psychology of Behaviour at Work, Culture Shock and Personality at Work.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tablesp. vii
Notes on Contributorsp. x
Prefacep. xvii
Introduction
Mutual and Partaken Bliss: Introducing the Science of Bodily Beautyp. 3
Methodological Critiques
Waist-to-Hip Ratios and Female Attractiveness: Comparing Apples, Oranges, and Pearsp. 15
The Volume-Height Index as a Body Attractiveness Indexp. 29
Methodological Issues in Studies of Female Attractivenessp. 46
Attractiveness Research Across Cultures
An Evolutionary Perspective on Male Preferences for Female Body Shapep. 65
Masculinity, Culture, and the Paradox of the Lekp. 88
Healthy Body Equals Beautiful Body? Changing Perceptions of Health and Attractiveness with Shifting Socioeconomic Statusp. 108
Theory Development: Evolutionary Perspectives
The Shaping of Women's Bodies: Men's Choice of Fertility or Heat Stress Avoidance?p. 131
Interpersonal Metaperception: The Importance of Compatibility in the Aesthetic Appreciation of Bodily Cuesp. 159
Mate Preferences in Social Cognitive Context: When Environmental and Personal Change Leads to Predictable Cross-Cultural Variationp. 185
Theory Development: Sociocultural Perspectives
The Roles of Stereotypes and Group Norms on Perceptions of Bodily Attractivenessp. 209
Feminism and Body Imagep. 236
The Impact of Western Beauty Ideals on the Lives of Women: A Sociocultural Perspectivep. 259
Indexp. 299
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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