How do you feel when you see someone with a facial disfigurement? Most of us would like to think we could overlook an injury, cleft-palate, or birthmark. But when confronted by someone who looks very different from us we tend to shy away, lower our eyes, or look the other way. Some of us may move away, make a face, or avoid physical contact like a handshake.
We’re not alone and it may just be a deeply rooted biological reaction. A new study suggests that these reactions may come from an ancient disease-avoidance system that would normally prevent us from contracting an illness. We are treating facial abnormalities as infectious diseases and some researchers believe the revulsion we feel may just come from a primal fear. Our disgust may actually be a deep seated motivation to stay alive.
When you see an attractive person walking down the street you may turn your head to look at him or her. When you see everyone else, they may just be blurs as you pass by on the street. What is the reason you look at the attractive person? Why do humans find some people attractive and others not? The answer lies within the brain.
New research being done by psychologist Nancy Etcoff shows that when human beings see an attractive person the reward centers in the brain fire. Not only this, but humans can differentiate between levels of attractiveness by how heavily reward circuits fire in the brain when different pictures of attractive people are shown to them. Psychologist John R. Buri has shown, initial attraction to a person is just a powerful wave of neurotransmitters sent our way. This essentially creates a brain flooding of many different rewards, including Epinephrine, Dopamine, Phenyl ethylamine and Endorphins. Such powerful rewards for such surface level beauty can suggest many things, including an explanation for the commonly held belief that attractive people are more successful in life. This may possibly be because of the physiological response to seeing an attractive face, and with time and repeated exposure, an addiction, or obsession with a certain person. One would be more likely for instance to hire a person they found to be more attractive because they are rewarded chemically in the brain for being around that person.
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