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Katigbak, Laura Clarissa L. Biology 1

2009-41357

The Discovery Channel documentary The Science of Sex Appeal,

explores not only the factors that humans take into consideration when choosing

a possible mate, it also explains the chemicals that are involved in both choosing

a mate and maintaining a long term relationship with that mate. Attraction can

stem from different physical features ranging from facial symmetry to body

movement and even voice. Humans look for characteristics that they want to

pass on to their offspring and signs of health as reflected by appearance.

When it comes to the face, attractiveness has been attributed to

symmetry and balance, as well as the masculinity and femininity of a face. The

Greeks used a formula that is often found in nature called the Golden Ratio, to

measure attractiveness. It measures the distance between certain points in the

face and the ratios formed between them. The Golden Ratio has been used in

various studies and it has been found that an attractive face usually ranges from

6 above. Another important factor in facial attractiveness is symmetry. It appears

that faces that are more symmetrical are more attractive. Males and females

also have distinct facial characteristics: females have more pointed, rounded

jaws and lower brows while males have square angular faces and higher brows.

Males tend to gravitate towards more feminine faces in females while females

are more attracted to more masculine faces in males.

People do not only focus on the face when they are looking for a mate:

they also look at the body. Males look for signs that a female would be able to

bear and take care of children, so they look at the breasts, waist and hips.Females look for signs that indicate strength, so they concentrate on the torso

and arms. However, body movement in consideration of body shape is also

important. A persons walk can contribute to their attractiveness, especially if

paired with the right body shape. An attractive female walk is one that

emphasizes the hips, with a side-to-side movement. This is especially attractive

if a womans body shape is curved, with large hips. For a mans walk to be

attractive, it should have more of a swagger, with emphasis on the shoulders.

This works well if a man has broad shoulders, part of the ideal body shape for

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males.

A persons voice can also be a cause for attraction. Females are more

attracted to low, deep male voices while males are attracted to more

high-pitched female voices.

Other considerations for attractiveness and picking a mate involve

timing and average attractiveness. Studies show that females are more

attractive when they are ovulating, and also simultaneously they find men more

attractive. An experiment showed that although humans are concerned with

finding the most physically attractive mate possible, because this reflects genetic

health, people are likely to pair up with partners of averagely the same level of

attractiveness.

There are different chemicals involved in the attraction process and in

the process of being in and maintaining a relationship. Pheromones are those

hormones involved in the attraction process. Each person has their own smell

and their own set of pheromones and people also have different preferences for

these. Although, it seems that a persons smell becomes less attractive to us

when they are genetically related or similar to us and more attractive the more

different they are. This could be a natural mechanism to aid us in producing

healthy children, since if we pair up with someone genetically related, the odds

are the child will be less equipped to battle certain diseases. Other important

chemicals are endorphins, oxytocin and vasopressin. Once a mate has been

chosen, one then has to keep that mate. In the animal kingdom, polygamy is not

really an issue, however humans opt for monogamy. Endorphins and oxytocin

are the chemicals associated with being happy, falling in love and the maternal

urges in women. In order to keep ones mate, one needs to have the person at ahealthy level of these chemicals. In men, it was found that men with vasopressin

are those least likely to stray, the same with a monogamous animal, the prairie

vol.

Even after all these scientific explanations for attraction and love, the

video concludes that love in the end is something that is much more than just

choosing genes to pass on and chemical levels. Choosing to stay in a

relationship is a choice and something people can choose to work on.

The documentary was very insightful in terms of how people become

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attracted to one another. It also provided me with ideas on how to become more

attractive if I chose to. I told a lot of my friends about the video and all of them

were very interested because this process of being attracted to people and

wanting to attract people in return is very integral in human life, especially for

certain stages in our life like the adolescent stage. There are a lot of instances

when I see couples that dont really make sense to me. This has also been

echoed by my friends and perhaps even society in general. Even in media, these

sort of physically incompatible relationships have become a humorous point.

These couples are composed of an attractive male and an unattractive female or

vice versa. Although people are apt to take physical attractiveness first when

looking for a mate, there are things that are not so easily perceived on surface

level such as the pheromones and of course, a persons attitude and inner

beauty. We might be biological programmed to be attracted to certain people,

but in the end, like the video says, we choose who we stay with. Its something

beautiful about human nature, being able to love and be loved in return, and I

think that it was good that the video highlighted this.