Annotated Bibliography

He mentions several key factors that support his argument that looks do matter; Socially, attractive people are more likely to get paid more on the job, and mothers tend to look for attractiveness in their children. The way someone looks tends to determine their social status, physical activity, and their fitness level. From 1939 to 1989, the importance of looks to both men and women increased along with the change in trends in fashion, magazines, and the media, and that these trends will continue to develop along with technological changes that are not likely to change anytime soon. The author then mentions obesity, and its effect on someone's look. In a study, people that weighed more pounds were estimated to be older than the thinner person. As society further develops, the way both men and women dress changed in terms of the level of formality. The clothes we wear to school/work, private/public, and formal/informal are the same because America has been getting more casual ever year. There is no longer a distinction in clothing between gender, class, and age. Shorts used to be meant for youth only, but now you see people of all age wearing

The beauty standard is a culturally constructed notion of physical attractiveness that has become increasingly imperative for women and men. However, this standard has become extremely perilous to men and women’s self-image. Camille Paglia, a highly educated individual who earned her PhD at Yale University and became a highly acclaimed author, explicates this conception in her essay “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery”. Paglia suggests that the beauty standard idealizes women to look like “sex symbols with an unattainable grandeur” (776). She continues to claim that it forces her audience of higher class women to pay large sums of money in order to alter their features ultimately conforming to a very “parochial” definition of beauty (776). Although Paglia is a highly credible source, she illogically appeals to the reader’s fears in order to persuade them. Paglia fails to give any credible outside sources which affirms her preposterous beliefs. Contrary to her inconsistencies, Daniel Akst, a social journalist and graduate from New York University provides his audience with reputable sources in order to persuade his audience. Daniel Akst believes that there needs to be a “democratization of physical beauty” in which instead of attempting to alter the beauty standard, we must first change how we view ourselves. Akst provides credible sources to establish his credibility where he observes cases studies and cultural experiments from scientists and organizations including:

Discrimination based on appearance is a severe inequity and its impact is often more invidious than we can presume. Although it is not the most severe form of bias, the costs and disadvantages associated with appearance may necessitate some legal remedy or other societal response. Unfortunately, current legal frameworks are limited in prohibiting appearance discrimination and those established are so often ineffective. Government therefore does not have the means to mandate a change to this injustice. Yet, a reform for discrimination based on appearance remains imperative. The following will explain why appearance discrimination should be unlawful in the United States and why there is little that the government can do to alleviate the

The temptation to feel worth through external beauty, drives each and every person to go to extreme lengths to make themselves seem as presentable as possible. Because of society's high prioritization of external appearance, I always personally feel pressured to look and act a certain way. However, many new perspectives on beauty were revealed to me through novels I read throughout this year. Both “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and “A Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd” work to develop an overarching theme that possessing a superficial faith in youth and beauty, will ultimately lead to one's damnation.

The central message of this work is that society is obsessed with appearances. The point the author is trying to make is beauty should not be the most important trait of a person. In today’s society everything is based on looks, people are more concerned about a person’s outward appearance. People strive to

The first section addresses the question of whether it is possible to use measures of beauty to analyze the role of looks in the labour market. Since, it would be futile to examine the effect of beauty on employment if there is no mutual agreement on what defines beauty. Using data from

Strangers will base their actions toward another person based on the first things they notice about that person, which most often includes a person’s looks. This proclivity is known as the “primacy effect”. “[The] primacy effect is the tendency to be influenced by what information we gather first…This information can be physical attractiveness…” (Hein 1). Although it is not certain as to why this effect is in place, it is certain that this effect is real and common in today’s society. This inclination for attractiveness to equal superior treatment follows over into areas of a person’s life that are not exclusively centered around recreational social interaction. For example, those who are universally thought of as being attractive “make 12 percent more money than those regarded as less good-looking” (Dobson 1). This shows that, yet again, beautiful people receive unjustified advantages from the unknowing people they interact with on a daily basis only because they are physically

Interpersonal attraction embodies feelings of love, like, dislike, hate, lust and admiration. It refers to positive and negative feelings towards one another. Since most people desire relationships of some form, be it platonic friendship or romance, these are common essentials, which make interpersonal attraction a major topic within social psychology. Since it is such an important topic, this essay will discuss what attraction is and what determines it. Social traits are important aspects in attraction and according to Hume (1757), attraction is biased since it is 'in the eye of the beholder'. However, researchers have defined attraction objectively through a variety of social factors and theories and answered the question “what draws us into these "relationships"? “What makes another person attractive”? Researchers have identified five factors that are important in determining whether we are likely to find another person attractive. These factors are physical attractiveness, proximity, pheromones, mutual attraction or liking, similarity or complementarity of interest and beliefs.

Since the beginning of time, humans have gathered their first impression of someone based on their appearance. Perception is a basic human process that causes people to become aware of something through their senses. That being said, people always link a person’s personality or skill to the way they look. Because the human race is so judgmental, people who cannot afford to look a certain way, people who want to look differently, and people who were born with different defects are being wrongly perceived. Thinking that someone is less of a person because of their physical appearance is a large problem in this growing society. It is important to analyze all of the issues rising because of judgment in order to ensure a future where all people are accepted and given equal opportunity.

Many factors impact the type of people we are attracted to. They include physical attractiveness, proximity, reciprocity, and similarity. Research shows that the initial phases of romantic attraction are largely determined by physical appeal (Curran & Ruppel, 2012). People’s perception of their own physical appeal also plays a

throughout history. For example, it is a common belief that John F. Kennedy’s more favorable looks were a contributing factor in his 1960 presidential win against Richard Nixon. To a lot of people, it may appear that beautiful people have an unfair advantage in life. As a result of this belief, a world where becoming beautiful is a rite of passage for all people seems to have an almost utopia-like quality, but that is not the case in the dystopian novel Specials by Scott Westerfeld. This book is an excellent reading choice to open the eyes of people who are under the false impression that physical attractiveness makes a person superior, and for those who

As the conclusion of this study, it is obvious that people doesn’t just base how they look at attractiveness and beauty on physical

Humans are generally known to desire seeing attractive people in their daily lives, in films, on their television; allowing them to obtain physiological stimulation upon seeing physical beauty. In essence, our brain deem beauty important enough or significant enough as it receives a chemical stimulus telling us to surround ourselves with those who are beautiful. Bizarrely, the chemical released when one is addicted to drugs or feeling elated, is the same one released upon seeing beauty.(John R Buri. 2010) This highlights that although many other factors most definitely contribute to achieving social desirability within society, the idea that attractiveness could influence this

A few relationships tend to be based solely on their partner’s level of attractiveness. We determine how attractive someone is, “ the prejudice of deciding what to do based solely on outward appearance could cost the pursuer the chance of a meaningful relationship” (Modern Day Adages). Although someone is “better” looking doesn’t mean anything when it comes to their character and personality. An “average” person can be more beautiful on the inside than a “better” looking person. As a society, we need to give others the opportunity to show themselves even if they’re “average.”

Discrimination based on appearance is a severe inequity and its impact is often more invidious than we can presume. Although it is not the most severe form of bias, the costs and disadvantages associated with appearance may propose for some legal remedy or other societal response. Unfortunately, current legal frameworks are limited in prohibiting appearance discrimination and those established are so often ineffective. Government therefore does not have the means to mandate a change to this injustice. Yet, a reform for discrimination based on appearance remains imperative. The following will explain why appearance discrimination should be unlawful in the United States and why there is not any perfected solution to that problem.