Online Talk: Beauty and Sex Appeal

In the Brain of the Beholder: The Principles of Beauty and Sex Appeal

According to Woody Allen, “only two things in life are important: one is sex, and the other isn’t all that important”. This view is rather shared by evolutionary psychologists, who over recent years have established the central rules underlying what we find attractive in a potential partner and their adaptive value. Mate choice is determined by a “reproductive imperative”, the need to pass our genes on to the next generation. Even our instinct for survival is subservient to this central aim. This illustrated lecture will outline what determines our perception of beauty and from whence sex appeal originates in men and women respectively.