How We Evolved to Desire Beauty and Enjoy Art 2015 By Anjan Chatterjee
Idea #1: There are 3 universal principles that make a face appear beautiful: statistically average facial features, symmetry and sexual dimorphism.
Idea #2: Pursuing beauty in faces and places helped our ancestors survive.
Idea #3: External circumstances influence our sense of beauty, while culture exaggerates traits we find naturally attractive.
Idea #4: Making art is a universal human behavior, but art itself is hard to define.
Idea #5: Art engages the sensual, emotional and cognitive networks of the brain.
Idea #6: Aesthetic experience is defined by liking without wanting.
Idea #7: Art is widely considered to be either a natural instinct or a by-product of human evolution.
Idea #8: The less we needed to fight for our survival, the more we could focus on art.
The key message:
Humans perceive certain things as beautiful because of the evolutionary benefits these specific things afford us. This principle is evident in everything from pretty faces to attractive landscapes. Similarly, art emerged from multiple evolutionary faculties that, when combined in a safe setting, led to creative expression and artistic outcomes.
Humans perceive certain things as beautiful because of the evolutionary benefits these specific things afford us. This principle is evident in everything from pretty faces to attractive landscapes. Similarly, art emerged from multiple evolutionary faculties that, when combined in a safe setting, led to creative expression and artistic outcomes.
