Survival of the Prettiest The Science of Beauty

"Much of the research Etcoff uses to substantiate her argument is not new. There are the studies that show that infants will stare significantly longer at faces deemed by adults to be attractive; the studies that show significant agreement among people of different races and cultures about which faces they consider beautiful; and the studies that show that cultures with a high prevalence of parasitic diseases place an even greater value than we do on physical beauty, probably because such features as clear skin or a lean, muscular body are visual certificates of health.
But 'Survival of the Prettiest' is the first book to pull all of the science on beauty into one lively yet thoughtful package, showing again that it's not just ax-grinding males who believe that biology continues to play an important role in our lives. Indeed, Etcoff, who did postdoctoral work in cognitive neuroscience at M.I.T. and is a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, has won several awards for her research on sex differences and the brain."Etcoff, Nancy is the author of 'Survival of the Prettiest The Science of Beauty', published 2000 under ISBN 9780385479424 and ISBN 0385479425.