The definition of beauty has changed through the ages, but elements of what people think is attractive tend to hold true through generations and across cultures. Where do these standards come from, and why some of them seem to be innate – even in nonhumans?

• Symmetry as a pretty universal measure of attractiveness
• Babies as selfish hedonists who will stare endlessly at what they’re attracted to
• Beauty and ugliness in culture and fairy tales
• “Tangled”
• The “Eye of the Beholder” “Twilight Zone” episode and Marilyn on “The Munsters”
• Plastic surgery and the quest for beauty
• The global beauty industry: $300 billion
• Tanning and beauty
• Changes in how weight is viewed in relation to attractiveness
• Mr. Gold/ Rumpelstiltskin in “Once Upon a Time”
• Foot binding, lip disks, neck rings and head binding
• Extreme beauty and corsets
• “The Beauty Myth” by Naomi Wolf
• Umberto Eco’s “History of Beauty” and “On Ugliness”
• “Mona Lisa” by today’s beauty standards
• fMRI studies on beauty
• Listener mail! From Matthew about our brony episode.
• Episode link: Culture of Beauty

My research:

• Beautiful People are More Intelligent
• Beautiful People are More Intelligent II
• The Truth About Beauty
• All Stereotypes Are True Except … Beauty is In the Eye of the Beholder
• All Stereotypes Are True Except … Beauty is Only Skin Deep
• Diessner, Rhett et al. “Engagement with Beauty: Appreciating Natural, Artistic and Moral Beauty.” The Journal of Psychology. 2008.
• Jacobs, Richard H.A.H. et al. “Neural Correlates of Visual Aesthetics – Beauty as the Coalescence of Stimulus and Internal State.” PLoS One. Feb. 22, 2012.

Holly’s research:

• Beauty and Culture
• The Cultural Implications of Beauty
• Plagiocephaly and head binding
• Beauty CULTure

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