The following (including the graphics) is from
“The Evolution of Human Mating,” by David M. Buss,
of the University of Texas, Austin, in 2007:
“Evolutionary psychology provides a powerful theory for the evolution of standards of female beauty—whatever observable cues are linked with fertility
(immediate probability of conception) or reproductive value (future reproductive potential)
will evolve to become part of what humans find attractive in females.
These include cues to youth, such as full lips, smooth skin, lustrous hair, and a low ratio of hips to waist (WHR).
They also include cues to health, such as clear skin, absence of sores, white teeth, and symmetrical features.
Beauty, in short, is in the “psychological adaptations of the beholder,”
and men value physical appearance because of the wealth of information
it provides about a woman’s youth, health, and hence reproductive capacity.”
It’s fun to play with, the evolutionary biology model — this newfound substance, a putty or clay that molds to any texture and shape. The problem, however, with books such as Geoffrey Miller’s The Mating Mind, or even On the Origin of Stories by our own Auckland-based Brian Boyd — books which seek to sculpt poetic subjects using evolutionary materials — is that they can sound so plausible and compelling, so theoretically interesting and eye-opening, and yet, in the end, add so little of beauty to the subject they discuss.
Although most evolutionary biologists continue to focus on “fitness factors” in human mating choices (see, for example, the work of David C. Geary, Jacob Vigil, and Jennifer Byrd-Craven University of Missouri-Columbia), I should note that several years after writing the above stanzas in Kamal, I was pleased to read, in a reputable science publication, a proposition very similar to my own.
Source :
http://voices.yahoo.com/evolution-why-men-prefer-big-breasts-curvy-hips-8965677.html
