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In The Eye Of The Beholder? Two years ago researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital undertook an interesting study. Groups of young heterosexual men were asked to participate in three experiments. Each experiment began with the men looking at 80 photographs of faces on computer screens. The study coordinators had classified the faces in four ways -- "beautiful females," "average females," "beautiful males," "average males" -- but did not let the men know which faces fell under these headings. One team was asked to rate the faces from a 7 ("very attractive") to a 1 ("very unattractive"). Another team was allowed to spend as much time as it wanted looking at a face by pressing certain keys; it could spend ten minutes marveling at one visage and ten seconds glancing at another. A third group of men had images taken of their brain (MRI) as they were looking at the faces. According to the research, the men rated the pictures just as the study coordinators had beforehand, and more time was spent viewing a "beautiful" female face than an "average" one. Men whom the study coordinators considered "beautiful" were also evaluated as such by the study participants, although they spent considerably less time looking at their photos. The most important finding came from the third group. Viewing a "beautiful" female face apparently activates a part of the male brain which is energized when he is hungry and craves food, or addicted to drugs and craves a fix. This area might be considered a "pleasure nerve" of sorts. "Earlier studies that I and others have conducted follow evidence that the perception of beauty is inborn, that similar features are regarded as beautiful universally," noted Dr. Nancy Etcoff, one of the study coordinators. The research findings contravene the long-held view that beauty is "subjective" and "in the eye of the beholder." It's a fair bet, however, that this will not be the last such study on the subject. (Read more about Dr. Etcoff and the Massachusetts General Hospital study.) (December, 2003)
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