Couple Kissing (Photo : Reuters )
A group of people might give different answers when asked if a man in a photo is handsome, or a woman in an image is pretty, and a new study suggests why beauty is in the eye of the beholder. People have different perceptions of attractiveness because their opinion about whether a guy or gal is sexy is based more on their personal experiences than genetic makeup or universal standards.
The study was published in the journal Current Biology. Its lead author was psychiatric researcher Laura Germine from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
In the study scientists examined 547 pairs of identical (same DNA) twins, and 214 pairs of fraternal (half of DNA same) twins. They were all in the Australian Twin Registry.
The volunteers looked at 98 male faces and also 102 female faces. They were then required to rate their attractiveness.
Researchers randomly chose two participants. They agreed or disagreed on a face's attractiveness about 50 percent of the time.
Researchers learned that environment was a bigger influence. It explained nearly 78 percent of the differences in people's perception of attractiveness, according to Live Science.
Germine said that the conept that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" has existed for a very long time. However, few studies based on the idea had been done.
Most studies about perceptions of attractiveness focused on which features of people's faces were most good-looking. That often includes symmetrical faces.
A study published earlier this year also examined the phenomenon of friends becoming lovers. The findings revealed that in that situation couples often overlook what other people would perceive to be unattractive physical features of the person's future partner, according to Medical Daily.
This video shows some different beauty standards around the world:
