Beauty and Symmetry: they are not synonymous (Atena Editora)

Abstract

There are a variety of qualities and characteristics of the human face that can be responsible for being considered beautiful. They include ideal proportions, bilateral symmetry, youth and sexual dimorphism. Hereditary factors and cultural influences also play an important role. Any or all of them can have an effect on the human conception of beauty, but none of them fully explains why one face is considered beautiful and another is not. The real answer is still an enigma. Greeks and Romans had a broad and precise concept of beauty. In ancient times, symmetry, the correct proportion, made up the canons of beauty, responsible for the harmony of the visual set. Facial symmetry seems to be an important aspect of facial beauty, although facial asymmetry is essentially normal. Image manipulation techniques used to create perfectly symmetrical facial images of the same individual have shown that the original image is more attractive than the one created perfectly symmetrical. They found that symmetry is an important factor in facial attractiveness, but the "proportionality" seems to be more important. Others agreed that no matter how symmetrical a face is, "proportionality" is the only feature discovered so far that is both necessary and sufficient to ensure facial attractiveness. In common sense, it is believed that women like Gisele Bündchen and Angelina Jolie they have symmetrical faces. However, comparing the two sides of the faces, it is noted that the faces have nothing symmetrical. Quite the contrary. Therefore, the true formula of beauty is independent of symmetry since aspects such as harmony and proportionality exert greater value.