beauty is skin-deep beauty lies in the
eyes of the beholder don’t judge a book
by its cover
how many times have you heard those
statements ladies and gentlemen it’s my
contention that our modern culture today
sends mixed messages about beauty and
really causes cultural confusion what
I’d like to do today is open your eyes
so that on one hand we may be obsessed
with posting the latest selfie that is
flawless perhaps that has been
airbrushed but on the other hand we
cannot tell our neighbors newly born
child that that child is hideous you
know on one hand we see TV anchors
trying to outdo themselves when it comes
to matters of looking glamorous on TV
but we cannot say that we didn’t hire
that person because we didn’t like the
way that they look ladies and gentlemen
I would like to set you free I would
like you to look at Beauty as the
pursuit of excellence which is a human
endeavor I would like you to look at
Beauty as a survival instinct so let me
start I want to share some hard truths
with you cause I like to call it the
beautiful truth you know that more
attractive people are seen as more
intelligent they’re seen as friendlier
they are seen as more creative in fact
they are also seen as more honest this
is called the beauty premium we assign
certain values to a person simply based
on the way that they look and the less
attractive are seen as unfriendly in
certain cases not even as intelligent
perhaps not even as credible ladies and
gentlemen this is called the ugly
penalty there is a beauty premium in
fact when we look at beauty it is my
contention that this starts from the
earliest that we born did you know that
babies that are more attractive are held
more they are coddled they receive more
smiles in a famous supermarket study
toddlers were allowed to roam unattended
in a supermarket and the less attractive
children were allowed to roam further
away unattended than their counterparts
in fact as we go into school more
attractive children receive more
attention a greater response to their
problems and even in college and
university students who are considered
more attractive receive better grades
yes that is the true bell curve when it
comes to marking and professors who are
less attractive are deemed not as good
in terms of their teaching ability
ladies and gentlemen let’s look at the
workplace did you know that over the
course of one’s career if you are deemed
as more attractive you will make on
average twenty thousand shillings more
per year
publicly traded companies who have CEOs
who are considered more attractive have
their shares trading at a higher price
higher price than those companies wealth
CEOs who are deemed less attractive
let’s look at relationships I mean there
are no two ways about it the more
attractive you are the more dates you go
on in fact more attractive people are
six times more likely to be married than
they’re less attractive counterparts the
justice system those who are less
attractive receive higher penalties the
more attractive linear sentences and
even in civil cases the more attractive
will receive a higher compensation let’s
look at films movies TV entertainment
the hero or the heroine is always the
most attractive is always the
good-looking leading man whereas the
villain will always have some sort of
deformity or will be less attractive in
music studies have shown that the more
attractive you are the better rated your
music is in fact more attractive
musicians have more hit singles than the
less attractive counterparts in fact
there is something called the ugliness
penalty there’s an article up there that
refers to how legislation needs to be
enacted to protect the homely the same
way that there’s legislation to protect
discrimination against gender
discrimination against racial
discrimination this article proposes
that they need to be enacted legislation
to protect those who are not as
attractive
at this point you’re probably thinking
to yourself all right Derrick they may
be a colonel or to truth to what you are
saying but isn’t beauty subjective isn’t
one man or one woman’s meet somebody
else’s poison well actually not Immanuel
Kant the German philosopher said that
our looking at someone beautiful is
universal and has nothing to do with
subjective tendencies there is a
template in our minds that automatically
recognizes beauty in other words it’s
inborn it’s instinctive
we’re born with recognizing beauty so
what do we look for well symmetry is one
of the things that the brain is
automatically looking for when it
considers someone beautiful symmetry of
course is the balance of proportion of
the features on somebody’s face it could
be one half in relation to the other
in fact symmetry is considered a sign of
a healthy individual let’s look at men
ladies when you are looking at a man and
you consider them attractive in most
cultures it’s a man who has a strong
chin you know the leading man’s jaw they
may have well-defined cheekbones they’ve
got a strong brow that’s a truly
masculine face that is what women look
for in a man and they consider that
attractive because that is a sign that
that man has high levels of testosterone
and can protect the female in terms of
if there is some misadventure ladies
how do you like your men tall dark and
handsome that’s not just a cliche that’s
deeply embedded in the female psyche we
are hard-wired of women are hard-wired
to respond to men who are taller
that’s because taller men had an
advantage in any confrontation and again
that is what women are looking for
somebody who can protect them and
protect their offspring when we are
looking at women what do men find
attractive well there are a couple of
things clear smooth skin big clear eyes
full lips these are all deemed
attractive across all cultures in fact
there are certain cultures that will
look at a woman and if she is full of
figured or round her they will consider
her more attractive some cultures will
look at women who are thinner and look
at that as attractive but in all those
cases what men I instinctively drawn to
is a woman who has a waist-to-hip ratio
of 0.7 that’s called the hourglass
figure and that’s what men are
instinctively drawn to now men don’t
walk around saying I’m looking for a
woman who has clear skin and who has a
waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7
but it’s instinctive
in fact there’s a part of the brain that
is stimulated when they see a woman who
has that particular characteristic and
it’s the same part of the brain that is
stimulated when men I engaged in
thrill-seeking behavior like gambling or
whitewater rafting in other words they
can’t help themselves it is direct
stimulation and positive stimulation at
that
they’re not a DaVinci in the 15th
century
lonardo DaVinci’s of course the famous
Italian artist and thinker came up with
a drawing a masterpiece that is studied
even today it’s called the Vitruvian Man
this is a picture of a man who has
perfect proportions and when women are
looking at a man and they find a man
attractive
they are also instinctively looking for
a man who has these proportions for
example the relationship of the size of
a man’s shoulders in relationship to his
waist that’s the upside down V shape
that women are looking for and again it
signifies that that’s a man who is full
of health has an immune system that’s
working and perhaps even fertile and
healthier you know we are born with the
ability to recognize faces at birth it’s
an instinct babies are born and they
immediately can tell their mother’s face
however man-made objects that is learned
we have to learn to recognize man-made
objects did you know that when we are
looking at an object or a face that has
some kind of distortion there’s a
particular part of the brain that is
activated it’s called amygdala and what
happens is the amygdala is activated and
stimulated and this is the same part of
the brain that is activated when we look
at something that is either fearful or
disgusting in fact the motor cortex is
also fired up and the motor cortex is in
place to protect us it’s a self defense
mechanism repeated exposure to a
distorted object
the motor cortex is fired up the
amygdala is fired up and that activation
over time with repeated exposure
actually diminishes
however repeated exposure to a distorted
piece over time the amygdala is still as
active the first time as it was the last
time in other words we can adapt to a
violation in the beauty of an object but
we cannot adapt to the violation in the
beauty of man or a face at this point
I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself
well Derek okay well fine I think I’m
sitting pretty so to speak but also is
there any hope for me well let me share
with you three things number one
research has shown that in terms of
attractiveness we look for averageness
we look for average faces and we find
those most attractive so scientists did
an experiment a study they got average
pictures of people they took a sample of
the population
and they went in the lab and they
composed a composite image and came up
with an average face and they did that
several times and they showed these to
participants and over and over again
participants rated those average faces
as most attractive and their conclusion
was we are looking for perhaps greater
genetic diversity and that’s why an
average face is what we would consider
attractive here’s the second thing
people that we are familiar with our
most attractive to us in fact the people
we love are 20% more familiar
to us and the final thing ladies and
gentlemen is as I was doing the research
for this talk I went online and I found
sites that would rate once
attractiveness based on some of the
metrics that I discussed so I went on to
a site called pretty skill comm and I
uploaded my picture and it took about
three minutes and it scanned my face and
it came up with the results and I’m
happy to tell you that my rating was 58
out of a hundred which the site called
not too bad and then it named everything
that was not working with my faith
ladies and gentlemen I want you to fight
these cultural influences that tell you
to ignore beauty as I’ve demonstrated
Beauty is built in us we can’t help but
recognize it in fact beauty is what
women look for in a man
for protection it’s what a man looks for
in a woman
to help with procreation and I would
like to end with a quote by poet John
Keats and this is what he said beauty is
truth and truth is beauty that is all
you need to know on earth and all you
need to remember thank you very much
[Applause]
eyes of the beholder don’t judge a book
by its cover
how many times have you heard those
statements ladies and gentlemen it’s my
contention that our modern culture today
sends mixed messages about beauty and
really causes cultural confusion what
I’d like to do today is open your eyes
so that on one hand we may be obsessed
with posting the latest selfie that is
flawless perhaps that has been
airbrushed but on the other hand we
cannot tell our neighbors newly born
child that that child is hideous you
know on one hand we see TV anchors
trying to outdo themselves when it comes
to matters of looking glamorous on TV
but we cannot say that we didn’t hire
that person because we didn’t like the
way that they look ladies and gentlemen
I would like to set you free I would
like you to look at Beauty as the
pursuit of excellence which is a human
endeavor I would like you to look at
Beauty as a survival instinct so let me
start I want to share some hard truths
with you cause I like to call it the
beautiful truth you know that more
attractive people are seen as more
intelligent they’re seen as friendlier
they are seen as more creative in fact
they are also seen as more honest this
is called the beauty premium we assign
certain values to a person simply based
on the way that they look and the less
attractive are seen as unfriendly in
certain cases not even as intelligent
perhaps not even as credible ladies and
gentlemen this is called the ugly
penalty there is a beauty premium in
fact when we look at beauty it is my
contention that this starts from the
earliest that we born did you know that
babies that are more attractive are held
more they are coddled they receive more
smiles in a famous supermarket study
toddlers were allowed to roam unattended
in a supermarket and the less attractive
children were allowed to roam further
away unattended than their counterparts
in fact as we go into school more
attractive children receive more
attention a greater response to their
problems and even in college and
university students who are considered
more attractive receive better grades
yes that is the true bell curve when it
comes to marking and professors who are
less attractive are deemed not as good
in terms of their teaching ability
ladies and gentlemen let’s look at the
workplace did you know that over the
course of one’s career if you are deemed
as more attractive you will make on
average twenty thousand shillings more
per year
publicly traded companies who have CEOs
who are considered more attractive have
their shares trading at a higher price
higher price than those companies wealth
CEOs who are deemed less attractive
let’s look at relationships I mean there
are no two ways about it the more
attractive you are the more dates you go
on in fact more attractive people are
six times more likely to be married than
they’re less attractive counterparts the
justice system those who are less
attractive receive higher penalties the
more attractive linear sentences and
even in civil cases the more attractive
will receive a higher compensation let’s
look at films movies TV entertainment
the hero or the heroine is always the
most attractive is always the
good-looking leading man whereas the
villain will always have some sort of
deformity or will be less attractive in
music studies have shown that the more
attractive you are the better rated your
music is in fact more attractive
musicians have more hit singles than the
less attractive counterparts in fact
there is something called the ugliness
penalty there’s an article up there that
refers to how legislation needs to be
enacted to protect the homely the same
way that there’s legislation to protect
discrimination against gender
discrimination against racial
discrimination this article proposes
that they need to be enacted legislation
to protect those who are not as
attractive
at this point you’re probably thinking
to yourself all right Derrick they may
be a colonel or to truth to what you are
saying but isn’t beauty subjective isn’t
one man or one woman’s meet somebody
else’s poison well actually not Immanuel
Kant the German philosopher said that
our looking at someone beautiful is
universal and has nothing to do with
subjective tendencies there is a
template in our minds that automatically
recognizes beauty in other words it’s
inborn it’s instinctive
we’re born with recognizing beauty so
what do we look for well symmetry is one
of the things that the brain is
automatically looking for when it
considers someone beautiful symmetry of
course is the balance of proportion of
the features on somebody’s face it could
be one half in relation to the other
in fact symmetry is considered a sign of
a healthy individual let’s look at men
ladies when you are looking at a man and
you consider them attractive in most
cultures it’s a man who has a strong
chin you know the leading man’s jaw they
may have well-defined cheekbones they’ve
got a strong brow that’s a truly
masculine face that is what women look
for in a man and they consider that
attractive because that is a sign that
that man has high levels of testosterone
and can protect the female in terms of
if there is some misadventure ladies
how do you like your men tall dark and
handsome that’s not just a cliche that’s
deeply embedded in the female psyche we
are hard-wired of women are hard-wired
to respond to men who are taller
that’s because taller men had an
advantage in any confrontation and again
that is what women are looking for
somebody who can protect them and
protect their offspring when we are
looking at women what do men find
attractive well there are a couple of
things clear smooth skin big clear eyes
full lips these are all deemed
attractive across all cultures in fact
there are certain cultures that will
look at a woman and if she is full of
figured or round her they will consider
her more attractive some cultures will
look at women who are thinner and look
at that as attractive but in all those
cases what men I instinctively drawn to
is a woman who has a waist-to-hip ratio
of 0.7 that’s called the hourglass
figure and that’s what men are
instinctively drawn to now men don’t
walk around saying I’m looking for a
woman who has clear skin and who has a
waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7
but it’s instinctive
in fact there’s a part of the brain that
is stimulated when they see a woman who
has that particular characteristic and
it’s the same part of the brain that is
stimulated when men I engaged in
thrill-seeking behavior like gambling or
whitewater rafting in other words they
can’t help themselves it is direct
stimulation and positive stimulation at
that
they’re not a DaVinci in the 15th
century
lonardo DaVinci’s of course the famous
Italian artist and thinker came up with
a drawing a masterpiece that is studied
even today it’s called the Vitruvian Man
this is a picture of a man who has
perfect proportions and when women are
looking at a man and they find a man
attractive
they are also instinctively looking for
a man who has these proportions for
example the relationship of the size of
a man’s shoulders in relationship to his
waist that’s the upside down V shape
that women are looking for and again it
signifies that that’s a man who is full
of health has an immune system that’s
working and perhaps even fertile and
healthier you know we are born with the
ability to recognize faces at birth it’s
an instinct babies are born and they
immediately can tell their mother’s face
however man-made objects that is learned
we have to learn to recognize man-made
objects did you know that when we are
looking at an object or a face that has
some kind of distortion there’s a
particular part of the brain that is
activated it’s called amygdala and what
happens is the amygdala is activated and
stimulated and this is the same part of
the brain that is activated when we look
at something that is either fearful or
disgusting in fact the motor cortex is
also fired up and the motor cortex is in
place to protect us it’s a self defense
mechanism repeated exposure to a
distorted object
the motor cortex is fired up the
amygdala is fired up and that activation
over time with repeated exposure
actually diminishes
however repeated exposure to a distorted
piece over time the amygdala is still as
active the first time as it was the last
time in other words we can adapt to a
violation in the beauty of an object but
we cannot adapt to the violation in the
beauty of man or a face at this point
I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself
well Derek okay well fine I think I’m
sitting pretty so to speak but also is
there any hope for me well let me share
with you three things number one
research has shown that in terms of
attractiveness we look for averageness
we look for average faces and we find
those most attractive so scientists did
an experiment a study they got average
pictures of people they took a sample of
the population
and they went in the lab and they
composed a composite image and came up
with an average face and they did that
several times and they showed these to
participants and over and over again
participants rated those average faces
as most attractive and their conclusion
was we are looking for perhaps greater
genetic diversity and that’s why an
average face is what we would consider
attractive here’s the second thing
people that we are familiar with our
most attractive to us in fact the people
we love are 20% more familiar
to us and the final thing ladies and
gentlemen is as I was doing the research
for this talk I went online and I found
sites that would rate once
attractiveness based on some of the
metrics that I discussed so I went on to
a site called pretty skill comm and I
uploaded my picture and it took about
three minutes and it scanned my face and
it came up with the results and I’m
happy to tell you that my rating was 58
out of a hundred which the site called
not too bad and then it named everything
that was not working with my faith
ladies and gentlemen I want you to fight
these cultural influences that tell you
to ignore beauty as I’ve demonstrated
Beauty is built in us we can’t help but
recognize it in fact beauty is what
women look for in a man
for protection it’s what a man looks for
in a woman
to help with procreation and I would
like to end with a quote by poet John
Keats and this is what he said beauty is
truth and truth is beauty that is all
you need to know on earth and all you
need to remember thank you very much
[Applause]
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