Attraction and Human Mating

Abstract

Our magazines, movies, and television screens are filled with attractive individuals. Despite the fact that an interest in attractiveness may appear shallow, both women and men are concerned with good looks in a potential partner, and spend time, effort, and money in the pursuit of looking more appealing via diet, exercise, fashion, and cosmetics. This begs the question of why humans are so interested in being attractive and wanting to be with attractive others. In the chapter, I discuss the power of attractiveness and the evolutionary logic for why beauty and attractiveness are fundamental aspects of social life in humans. We start with a basic question: Why do we care about attractiveness? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)