question about evolution

[john]

Is it only human beings who find potential mates attractive on the strength of their looks? I understand that, like animals, we are attracted to young lithe bodies because they represent fertility etc. However i'm not aware of animals fancying one another on the basis of their facial features.
If i've got the wrong end of the stick let me know.

[Walden]

A large number of species use their appearance to attract mates. Note the vivid coloration and courtship displays of various birds, and likewise fish.

[s1m0n]

There are a great number of theories by which evolutionists have attempted to explain the specifics of attraction, but the bald fact is that every single one of them is essentially circular. Each starts with the present, and then works backwards constructing a narrative. In this narrative is embedded a rule (or many), which is then applied to what we know of the past to arrive at - ta DAAA! - the present!

Hooray, the model worked. The problem is that in such an operation, *every* model works.

[Lambchop]

i'm not aware of animals fancying one another on the basis of their facial features.

I'm not sure how you would get one to tell you if they were, although the bower bird comes to mind.

Closer to home, it is my opinion that we are attracted to people who look like what we're used to . . . people who look like us. This is the explanation for couples who look like a pair of bulldogs. They didn't become this way after the fact. No, they started out like that and it only became worse.

The failure of this process is the reason for orthodonture.

[mutepointe]

humans don't just base attractiveness on looks, especially facial features. we do have to explain larry king and henry kissinger. besides attractiveness, there is power, personality, intellect, smell, popularity, wealth, compatability, humor......i'm sure the list goes on and on with each variable having a different weight for each person at any particular moment in time and in their lives.

[mutepointe]

although in defense of john's theory, my brother-in-law has dated quite a few women over the years and they've all looked so much alike that we all joke about the time he dated a brunette, like she even had a chance.

[MTGuru]

it is my opinion that we are attracted to people who look like what we're used to . . . people who look like us. This is the explanation for couples who look like a pair

Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. Lambchop:

[dwest]

Bottom line is females who elect to stay with males are only interested in high quality nutritious food. If the male can't provide that it don't matter how good looking his is.

[Nanohedron]

...it is my opinion that we are attracted to people who look like what we're used to . . . people who look like us.

Not always, and for Nano there is no freakin' way. Anyone who resembles my own physiognomy gets at most a distantly polite handshake. That's it. No snogs, no nuthin'. Too creepy. Sorry for the broken hearts, but...I mean, c'mon, seriously. Ew.

The failure of this process is the reason for orthodonture.

I dunno...I'd think that less-similar types would stand a better chance to maybe deepen the gene pool. Maybe.

[Innocent Bystander]

When wor family visited Kerry, all the women there seemed to look like my wife. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. But I come from up the other end of the island (County Down) and the women don't really look like that up there.

In Dublin if they heard you were marrying a Kerry woman they would say that was devolution, not evolution...

[emmline]

I dunno...I'd think that less-similar types would stand a better chance to maybe deepen the gene pool. Maybe.

I would think so as well, but there's also the subdivision between xenophilic/xenophobic human tendencies which most likely contributes to keeping things in balance.
Furthermore, in the vein of choosing sameness, sometimes the sameness to which we're attracted has less to do with facial shape than intellectual bent, or cultural assumptions.

However, in a nod to Lamby's orthodonture theory: In the 60s-70s braces were often only recommended for serious cases. Those of us with slight overbites or whatnot were usually left to slide. (not that I objected, nor did my spouse.) We each had siblings who did qualify for braces, and we produced 4 children who did too.That was some money.

[Lambchop]

However, in a nod to Lamby's orthodonture theory: In the 60s-70s braces were often only recommended for serious cases. Those of us with slight overbites or whatnot were usually left to slide. (not that I objected, nor did my spouse.) We each had siblings who did qualify for braces, and we produced 4 children who did too.That was some money.

Thus proving that a stitch in time saves nine! If your parents had just fixed the problem by getting the both of you braces, look at the money you and your husband would have saved on your 4 kids!

[Lambchop]

it is my opinion that we are attracted to people who look like what we're used to . . . people who look like us. This is the explanation for couples who look like a pair

Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. Lambchop:

The attraction definitely wouldn't be the smell . . .

[emmline]

Thus proving that a stitch in time saves nine! If your parents had just fixed the problem by getting the both of you braces, look at the money you and your husband would have saved on your 4 kids!

As my mom is the only parent left, I shall now heap blame upon her. Good thinking Lamby.

[talasiga]

When wor family visited Kerry, all the women there seemed to look like my wife. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. But I come from up the other end of the island (County Down) and the women don't really look like that up there.

In Dublin if they heard you were marrying a Kerry woman they would say that was devolution, not evolution...

yes, heaven existed before hell and its evolution which is why I prefer Kerry to Dublin.