When a person or place strikes us as beautiful, it usually gives a sense of exhilaration or pleasure. We might be enchanted by a field of flowers, a sunset, or a work of art. A beautiful person might have a radiant smile, stunning eyes, or a great physique. We might be awed by an architectural masterpiece, an opera, or a majestic mountain.
A lot of people wonder if beauty is real or if it’s just in our heads. The answer, as with so many things in life, is that it depends on who we are and the context we’re in. In fact, our definitions of beauty are constantly changing as we learn and grow.
The word beautifull comes from the word beauty and has the same root, beau-ty. Almost anything can be called beautiful because, as the saying goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” For example, while you might find a brown-spotted grass frog unattractive, a scientist who spends his or her entire career studying them may find it beautiful.
In describing things, the adjective beautiful means “exciting sensuous or aesthetic pleasure.” There are many synonyms for beautiful such as lovely (female), handsome (masculine), and pretty (feminine). These words have similar meanings but have a different nuance: lovely suggests grace, delicateness, or exquisiteness; handsome suggest the appeal of proportion, symmetry, or elegance; and pretty often applies to superficial or insubstantial attractiveness. The word fair also means beauty but differs in nuance, implying something that’s pure, flawless, or fresh.
It’s worth noting that the term beautiful has been used for both genders, although today, it is far more commonly associated with females. This is largely due to a cultural bias toward beauty that’s been observed in surveys and experiments. In fact, the way we rate and perceive beauty appears to be dependent on our own sex and on whether or not we’re in a romantic relationship (Ruffle et al., 2021).
Another point to consider is that we’re all subject to idiosyncratic influences that affect our perception of beauty. Colors, for example, can appear very different to a person who’s color-blind or has jaundice. And if we’re under stress or fatigue, we tend to rate things less beautiful than we would in other circumstances.
Lastly, there’s the question of whether or not there are evolutionary functions for beautiful stimuli. The standard evolutionary account argues for direct selection, i.e., that beautiful stimuli are advantageous for mating or surviving in our environment. But there’s also an opposing co-evolutionary account that proposes indirect selection. For example, beautiful things might help us select mates or environments that favor the presence of particular physical characteristics, such as a peacock’s tail.