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The phrase “beauty is only skin deep” is presumptive, misleading and a patently false statement-illustrate & explain.
Abstract
Is beauty really skin deep? Historically, an association between ‘outer beauty’ and ‘inner beauty’ has been noted by poets, philosophers and writers. Does this attitude spill over into society today? This essay will explore perceptions of what constitutes ‘beauty’ before examining how these apply to people with beauty. The social effect of beauty will then be examined, both externally due to popular beauty ideals (the role of the media is also discussed) and, internally, due to psychological problems causing self-imposed stigmatizing behavior. Solutions will then be proposed on both external and internal levels, as well as recommendations for future research.
Introduction:
Sometimes there’s a sort of beauty in being strong and courageous enough to put the smack down. It can be defined by a certain look or mannerism or action. But when someone makes smile just because he or she is him- or herself, that whether that person is beautiful. When a person volunteers their time with no thought of personal gain, whether it’s to keep a museum or orchestra functioning or give a class the chance at a field trip, he or she is truly lovely. When someone rising above the trials life throws at them without complaint, beauty is definitely seen in that. And someone standing up for those smaller and more vulnerable than they, I think I fall in love a little. A person who believes in thinking before talking, who believes in treating others and they want to be treated. Whether true beauty is about how a person looks; or how they carry themselves. Whether a beautiful person has morals, and thinks of others and cares about other people. A person who believes in trying to rise above rough times. A man who believes in looking at a woman as his equal partner instead of treating her as if she is inferior to him whether the term is beauty or not.
Objective and Methodology of Research
This report has been facilitated with a research, which constituted better primary and secondary data collection. For the primary data, questionnaire comprising questions were prepared which dealt with the institution factors that induce people toward the opinion of beauty. For secondary data, various Internet web sites, books, articles, journals were searched. Hence this reports has not only been wanted to responses of the people being surveyed, but has extended by discussing the historical impacts and cross-cultural considerations relating to the concepts of beauty.
The primary reason for selecting such a topic was to find out what people think about beauty. Ours is a synthetic society. The lifestyle, living norms, thoughts and feelings are mostly synthetic or artificial. Our point or inquiry is that whether the concept of beauty is skin deep or something else, a confused action being performed, Our point of focus is to derive what people think, in today’s world about the moral view of beauty.
What is beauty?
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” Over the ages philosophers and poets, amongst them Aristotle, Plato and Keats, have associated beauty with virtue. The term ‘beauty’ is used in multiple contexts. These can be divided into ‘inner beauty’, describing a goodness of personality, and ‘outer beauty’, concerned with aesthetic a John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Line 49 (first published 1820). Appearance. On the surface disfigurement affects outer beauty, but it has been found that changes in appearance can cause anxiety, depression, grief, and a lowered self-esteem.These strongly affect a person’s disposition.1 Thus, defects in outer beauty can indirectly alter inner beauty. From ancient times outer beauty was revered as it was believed to be representative of inner beauty; Francis Bacon summarizes that “virtue is nothing but inward beauty; beauty nothing but outward virtue.” However, perceptions of what constitutes beauty have evolved 3
Characterization of beauty:
The characterization of a person as “beautiful”, whether on an individual basis or by community consensus, is often based on some combination of inner beauty, which includes psychological factors such as personality, intelligence, grace, politeness, charisma, integrity, congruence and elegance,
and outer beauty (i.e. physical attractiveness) which includes physical attributes which are valued on a subjective basis.
Standardization of beauty:
Standards of beauty have changed over time, based on changing cultural values. Historically, paintings show a wide range of different standards for beauty. However, humans who are relatively young, with smooth skin, well-proportioned bodies, and regular features, have traditionally been considered the most beautiful throughout history.1
A strong indicator of physical beauty is “average ness”, or “koinophilia”. When images of human faces are averaged together to form a composite image, they become progressively closer to the “ideal” image and are perceived as more attractive. This was first noticed in 1883, when Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, overlaid photographic composite images of the faces of vegetarians and criminals to see if there was a typical facial appearance for each. When doing this, he noticed that the composite images were more attractive compared to any of the individual images
Analysis of the Research Questionnaire
Following is the analysis of the set of questions that the respondents were requested to answer in the questionnaire.
Q: what is the best way to judge a book?
Q What is the best way to judge a book percentage
Cover 0 0%
Materials inside the book 30 100%
First question to the sample group was what is the best way to judge a book; by cover or material inside the book. Almost the entire sample group thinks the best way to judge a book by the materials inside the book. No one think that cover of the book is the best way to judge it
Q: What is the best way to judge a human being?
Q What is the best way to judge a human being?
No comments 11 25%
Mental attitude 11 25%
Physical appearance 6 14%
Personality 16 36%
In the same way next question was what the best way to judge a human being is. Most of the targeted people think the best way to judge a human being by his or her personality, only a few think beauty is judged by physical appearance. Personality reflects the true beauty, physical appearance gets faded by the flow of time, but the inner beauty never ends.
Q: Which beauty attracts you most?
Q Which beauty attracts you most
Well dressed person 6 20%
facial beauty 3 10%
Inner beauty 15 50%
None of the above 6 20%
we must realize that a person can be beautiful on the inside. Such a person is often referred to as a ‘lovely’ person. Most of my sample people think when we refer to something beautiful we are usually referring to that something’s outward appearance. What the phrase tries to emphasize is that the outward appearance of a person counts for nothing, but it is what lies beneath the skin, the actual person him/herself is what really matters. I believe the underlying message of this saying is completely true. Most of sample people think that nobody should care about what a person looks like because it’s only the outside.
Q: If a person were ugly but super nice, would you like to hang out with that person?
If a person is ugly but super nice, would you like to hang out with him
No 6 20%
Yes 9 30%
Depends on situation 15 50%
If a person were ugly but super nice, would you like to hang out with that person? Most of the people think yes, Beauty is just the outside, and the inside is what counts! It basically means that the only thing that should matter about a person is their personality. Not what they look like. Just because they are “beautiful” on the outside doesn’t mean they are on the inside; the way they act.
Q: which attitude makes a person beautiful?
Q What makes a person beautiful?
Physical appearance 5 17%
Personality 10 33%
Both physical and personality 15 50%
It means that what’s on the inside is what counts, your personality.It means that it shouldn’t matter what you look like on the outside, what matters is on the inside, beauty is only the face, the real beauty is the personality The saying simply means that just because someone (or something) appears attractive on the surface doesn’t mean they aren’t rotten beneath that outer layer. Or in other words, a person may be beautiful on the outside, but still have an ‘ugly’ heart or soul.
• A good analogy would be: imagine buying an apple, the plumpest, shiniest, ripest looking one in the basket, then biting into it only to find it rotten and wormy. Appearances can be deceptive.
Q: Beauty is what?
Beauty is
parsonality 15 50%
Skin deep 9 30%
Physical appearance 6 20%
Being beautiful only counts on physical appearance most of the people of the sample think it is not true. According to their point of view, Beauty not only is what’s on the outside but is what is on the inside as well. It means very simply that if you took a ‘beautiful’ and a ‘not beautiful’ person and removed the skin, are they not equal in their looks? Nothing about personality in the beauty statement. It is only skin deep. Remove the skin layer of a ‘beautiful’ person, and beauty too is removed. No need to go deeper. Beauty is superficial, and so is the one whom measures a person’s worth by it.
Q : In terms of choosing your life partner what you judge most.
In terms of choosing your life partner, what you judge most
Physical appearance 6 20%
Mentality 9 30%
Caring attitude 15 50%
Most of the case, sample people think that their life partner have to be a good human being and caring attitude. They think beauty and physical appearance as a minor concern because physical beauty fades with age, but a warm heart and generous nature last a lifetime.
Q : Does Physical beauty can hide a cold heart and a flawed character?
Does physical beauty can hide a cold heart and flawed character?
Yes 30 100%
No 0 0%
Most of the sample people think sometimes really beautiful people are treated like they are special till they come to believe they are better than others, then they are” spoiled”.
Q : External attractiveness has any relation to goodness or essential quality.
Does essential attractiveness has any relation to goodness or essential quality
No 6 20%
Yes 9 30%
Depends on situation 15 50%
Most of sample people think external physical appearance does not reflect what the potentiality he or she possesses. They also think that a very gorgeous body may hide a very awful person.
Beauty and morality:
Beauty in fact is not only skin deep. That is that beautiful people actually are nicer and friendlier. The argument goes as follows. Hopefully, we can all agree that we subconsciously assign positive characteristics such as intelligence and friendliness to beautiful people. We then treat these people nicer than we treat others. The improvable hypothesis is that beautiful people are beautiful on the inside as well. As a result of having been beautiful and therefore kindly treated they develop a positive self-image and treat others as they have learned others treat them. This continues into adulthood creating beautiful people that are friendlier and nicer than less beautiful people. Thus beautiful looking people become truly beautiful people by way of a self fulfilling foresight. Our experience with beautiful people being nice fuels are expectation by way of a psychological phenomenon known as association that similar looking (and therefore also beautiful) people will also be nice. We in turn treat them nicer and they treat us nicely in return further developing their own good character.
It is usually interpreted as beauty isn’t always on the outside, but look at this literally, so if anyone does have beauty, it will only be on the inside, however if he or she aren’t beautiful on the outside, then can’t be beautiful on the inside either……
The flaw in this line of thinking is the assumption that if beautiful people are treated well, they will become mature, thoughtful, compassionate individuals who treat others well. No doubt that is
Sometimes the case, but people who experience little adversity often develop into amazingly uncharitable, self-centered individuals.
We all know one or more beautiful people with an inflated sense of entitlement and self-worth. They believe they are a prince or princess and deserve to be universally treated better than anyone else. Often they also believe they have the right to treat others like dirt. Since we have better memory for negative events than positive ones, this is often the lasting impression we have of beautiful people and it (perhaps unfairly) spawns the saying “beauty is only skin deep.”4
Conclusion:
The phrase “beauty is only skin deep” is presumptive, misleading and a patently false statement. It presumes, first of all, that everyone accepts the standard definition of beauty, i.e., a person whose physical appearance would be appealing to a majority of people. That majority would first have to agree on a definition of beauty. It also negates the concept that beauty comes from within! True beauty goes much deeper than skin. It’s difficult to interpret because I don’t know that either gender would view them in the same light as someone of the opposite sex would. But, the essence is that, if you perceive that a person’s features are arranged in a way that is pleasing to you, take it for what it is – a pleasant looking face. There is only one criterion for judging beauty and that is a physical criterion since ‘beauty’ is a physical characteristic. The qualities we use to determine ‘inner beauty’ are not physical qualities and therefore the phrase ‘inner beauty’ becomes a contradiction in terms. People think that inner beauty attracts them more. Only a few thinks that beauty is judged by physical criteria. The definition of beauty is subjective but, no matter how one defines it, beauty can only be skin deep. One can only be seen as being physically beautiful…the more important characteristics that indicate a person’s moral core or system of values are not physical characteristics and so they cannot make a person beautiful.
Recommendation:
After analyzing the feedbacks from the questionnaire, we recommend that beauty should consider the following:
1. Beauty is beyond skin deep.
2. Real beauty remains in soul, not skin.
3. Do not always focus on physical appearance; express the thoughts and feelings that come into mind.
4. Personality is the most important, what material is given is earthly, and we must think beyond that.
5. A smile is the best wrapping for a beauty. So smile always, that makes people worth.
6. Beauty is relative, but universal.
Bibliography
1. Alley T R, Cunningham M R, 1991 `law_article`Average faces are attractive but very
attractive faces are not average” Psychological Science 2 123 – 125
2. Tove¨e M J, Cornelissen P L, 1999 `law_article`The mystery of female beauty” Nature
399 215 – 216
3.Yu D W, Shepard G H, 1998 `law_article`Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?” Nature
396 321 – 322
4. Rhodes G, Yoshikawa S, Clark A, Lee K, McKay R, Akamatsu S, 2001
`law_article`Attractiveness of facial average ness and symmetry in non-Western cultures: In
search of biologically based standards of beauty” Perception 30 611 – 625
APPENDIX
Research questionnaire
Name………
Age…………
This questionnaire is prepared for academic purposes only
What is the best way to judge a book?
a) By its cover
b) Materials inside the book.
What is the best way to judge a human being?
a) Mental attitude
b) Physical appearance
c) Personality
d) Physical appearance
Which beauty attracts you most?
a) Well dressed
b) Facial beauty
c) Inner beauty
d) None of the above
If a person is ugly but super nice, would you like to hang out with that person?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Depends on situation
Which attitude makes a person beautiful?
a) Physical appearance
b) Personality
c) Both a and b
Beauty is
a) Skin deep
b) Personality
c) Physical appearance
In terms of choosing your life partner, what you judge most?
a) physical appearance
b) Mentality
c) Caring attitude
d) None of the above
Does physical beauty can hide a cold and flawed character?
a) yes
b) no
Does external appearance has any relation to goodness or essential quality?
a) yes
b) no
c) Depends