It's 1878. Sir Francis Galton gives a remarkable talk. He's speaking to the anthropologic institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Known for his pioneering work in human intelligence, Galton is a brilliant polymath. He's an explorer, an anthropologist, a sociologist, a psychologist and a statistician. He's also a eugenist. In this talk, he presents a new technique by which he can combine photographs and produce composite portraits. This technique could be used to characterize different types of people. Galton thinks that if he combines photographs of violent criminals, he will discover the face of criminality. But to his surprise, the composite portrait that he produces is beautiful.
Godina je 1878, ser Frensis Galton je održao izvanredan govor. Govorio je pred antropološkim institutom Velike Britanije i Irske. Poznat po njegovom pionirskom radu na polju ljudske inteligencije, Galton je briljantna svestrana ličnost. On je istraživač, antropolog, sociolog, psiholog i statističar. Takođe je eugeničar. U ovom govoru je predstavio nove tehnike kojima može da kombinuje fotografije i da dobije kombinovane portrete. Ova tehnika može da se koristi da bi se kategorisali različiti tipovi ljudi. Galton je smatrao da ako kombinuje fotografije nasilnih kriminalaca, otkriće lik kriminala. No, na njegovo zaprepašćenje, kombinovani portret koji je stvorio je lep.
Galton's surprising finding raises deep questions: What is beauty? Why do certain configurations of line and color and form excite us so? For most of human history, these questions have been approached using logic and speculation. But in the last few decades, scientists have addressed the question of beauty using ideas from evolutionary psychology and tools of neuroscience. We're beginning to glimpse the why and the how of beauty, at least in terms of what it means for the human face and form. And in the process, we're stumbling upon some surprises.
Galtonovo iznenađujuće otkriće povlači ozbiljna pitanja: šta je lepota? Zašto nas određene konfiguracije linija, boje i oblika toliko uzbuđuju? Većim delom ljudske istorije ovim pitanjima se prilazilo upotrebom logike i nagađanja. No u poslednjih nekoliko decenija, naučnici su se bavili pitanjem lepote koristeći ideje iz evolutivne psihologije, kao i oruđa neuronauke. Počinjemo da vidimo obrise uzroka i načina lepote, bar u smislu toga šta ona znači u slučaju ljudskog lica i oblika. A usput, nailazimo na neka iznenađenja.
When it comes to seeing beauty in each other, while this decision is certainly subjective for the individual, it's sculpted by factors that contribute to the survival of the group. Many experiments have shown that a few basic parameters contribute to what makes a face attractive. These include averaging, symmetry and the effects of hormones. Let's take each one of these in turn.
Kada se radi o prepoznavanju naše međusobne lepote, iako je ova odluka svakako subjektivna za pojedinca, oblikuju je faktori koji doprinose opstanku grupe. Mnogi eksperimenti su pokazali da nekoliko osnovnih parametara doprinosi onome što lice čini privlačnim. Oni uključuju prosečnu vrednost, simetriju i uticaj hormona. Pozabavimo se svakim ponaosob.
Galton's finding that composite or average faces are typically more attractive than each individual face that contributes to the average has been replicated many times. This laboratory finding fits with many people's intuitions. Average faces represent the central tendencies of a group. People with mixed features represent different populations, and presumably harbor greater genetic diversity and adaptability to the environment. Many people find mixed-race individuals attractive and inbred families less so.
Galtonovo otkriće da su kombinovana ili prosečna lica tipično privlačnija od svakog pojedinačnog lica koje tvori prosečno, ponovljen je više puta. Ovo laboratorijsko otkriće se uklapa sa intuicijom mnogih ljudi. Prosečna lica predstavljaju centralne težnje grupe. Ljudi mešanih crta lica predstavljaju različite narode i, navodno, gaje veću genetsku raznovrsnost i adaptiranost na sredinu. Mnogim ljudima su pojedinci mešovitih rasa privlačni, a oni iz unutarporodičnih brakova nisu toliko.
The second factor that contributes to beauty is symmetry. People generally find symmetric faces more attractive than asymmetric ones. Developmental abnormalities are often associated with asymmetries. And in plants, animals and humans, asymmetries often arise from parasitic infections. Symmetry, it turns out, is also an indicator of health. In the 1930s, a man named Maksymilian Faktorowicz recognized the importance of symmetry for beauty when he designed the beauty micrometer. With this device, he could measure minor asymmetric flaws which he could then make up for with products he sold from his company, named brilliantly after himself, Max Factor, which, as you know, is one of the world's most famous brands for "make up."
Drugi faktor koji doprinosi lepoti je simetrija. Ljudi uopšteno smatraju simetrična lica privlačnijim od asimetričnih. Razvojne anomalije se često povezuju sa asimetrijom. A kod biljaka, životinja i ljudi, asimetrije često proističu iz parazitskih infekcija. Simetrija, ispostavlja se, da je i indikator zdravlja. Tokom 1930-ih, čovek po imenu Maksimilijan Faktorovič je prepoznao važnost simetrije za lepotu kada je dizajnirao mikrometar lepote. Ovom spravom je mogao da izmeri manje asimetrične mane koje je onda mogao da prikrije proizvodima koje je prodavala njegova firma, koju je briljantno nazvao po sebi, Maks Faktor, a koja je, kao što znate, jedan od najpoznatijih svetskih brendova "šminke".
The third factor that contributes to facial attractiveness is the effect of hormones. And here, I need to apologize for confining my comments to heterosexual norms. But estrogen and testosterone play important roles in shaping features that we find attractive. Estrogen produces features that signal fertility. Men typically find women attractive who have elements of both youth and maturity. A face that's too baby-like might mean that the girl is not yet fertile, so men find women attractive who have large eyes, full lips and narrow chins as indicators of youth, and high cheekbones as an indicator of maturity.
Treći faktor koji doprinosi privlačnosti lica je efekat hormona. A ovde, moram da se izvinim što ću svoje komentare da ograničim na heteroseksualne norme. Međutim, estrogen i testosteron igraju važne uloge u oblikovanju crta koje smatramo privlačnim. Estrogen proizvodi crte koje signaliziraju plodnost. Muškarcima su obično privlačne žene koje imaju elemente i mladosti i zrelosti. Lice koje je suviše nalik bebećem može da znači da devojka još nije plodna, te su muškarcima privlačne žene koje imaju krupne oči, pune usne i uske brade, što su indikatori mladosti, a visoke jagodične kosti su indikator zrelosti.
Testosterone produces features that we regard as typically masculine. These include heavier brows, thinner cheeks and bigger, squared-off jaws. But here's a fascinating irony. In many species, if anything, testosterone suppresses the immune system. So the idea that testosterone-infused features are a fitness indicator doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Here, the logic is turned on its head. Instead of a fitness indicator, scientists invoke a handicap principle.
Testosteron proizvodi crte koje obično smatramo muževnim. One uključuju gušće obrve, mršavije obraze i veću, četvrtastiju vilicu. Međutim, tu je očaravajuća ironija. Kod mnogih vrsta, ako ništa drugo, testosteron narušava imuni sistem. Pa ideja da su crte koje tvori testosteron indikatori dobre forme, zaista nema mnogo smisla. Ovde je logika obrnuta naopačke. Umesto indikatora dobre forme, naučnici prizivaju princip hendikepa.
The most commonly cited example of a handicap is the peacock's tail. This beautiful but cumbersome tail doesn't exactly help the peacock avoid predators and approach peahens. Why should such an extravagant appendage evolve? Even Charles Darwin, in an 1860 letter to Asa Gray wrote that the sight of the peacock's tail made him physically ill. He couldn't explain it with his theory of natural selection, and out of this frustration, he developed the theory of sexual selection.
Najnavođeniji primer hendikepa je paunov rep. Ovaj lepi, ali nezgrapni rep baš i ne pomaže paunu da izbegne grabljivice i da priđe paunicama. Zašto bi tako ekstravagantan dodatak evoluirao? Čak je i Čarls Darvin, u pismu Asi Grej iz 1860. napisao da mu od prizora paunovog repa fizički pozli. Nije mogao to da objasni svojom teorijom prirodne selekcije, a iz ove frustracije razvio je teoriju seksualne selekcije.
On this account, the display of the peacock's tail is about sexual enticement, and this enticement means it's more likely the peacock will mate and have offspring. Now, the modern twist on this display argument is that the peacock is also advertising its health to the peahen. Only especially fit organisms can afford to divert resources to maintaining such an extravagant appendage. Only especially fit men can afford the price that testosterone levies on their immune system. And by analogy, think of the fact that only very rich men can afford to pay more than $10,000 for a watch as a display of their financial fitness.
U tom slučaju, kod izgleda paunovog repa se radi o seksualnoj privlačnosti, a ta privlačnost znači da paun ima veće šanse da se pari i ima potomstvo. Sad, savremeno viđenje argumenta o paradiranju je to da paun takođe reklamira paunicama svoje zdravlje. Samo naročito podobni organizmi mogu da priušte prebacivanje resursa za održavanje tako ekstravagantnog dodatka. Samo naročito podobni muškarci mogu da priušte cenu koju testosteron nameće njihovom imunom sistemu. I analogno tome, setite se činjenice da jedino veoma bogati muškarci mogu da priušte više od 10.000 dolara za sat kao prikaz njihove finansijske podobnosti.
Now, many people hear these kinds of evolutionary claims and think they mean that we somehow are unconsciously seeking mates who are healthy. And I think this idea is probably not right. Teenagers and young adults are not exactly known for making decisions that are predicated on health concerns. But they don't have to be, and let me explain why.
Sad, mnogi ljudi čuju slične tipove evolutivnih tvrdnji i misle da to znači da mi nekako podsvesno tražimo partnere koji su zdravi. A ja mislim da ova zamisao najverovatnije nije tačna. Tinejdžeri i mladi nisu baš čuveni po donošenju odluka koje su zasnovane na brizi o zdravlju. Međutim, ne moraju da budu, a dozvolite da objasnim zašto.
Imagine a population in which people have three different kinds of preferences: for green, for orange and for red. From their point of view, these preferences have nothing to do with health; they just like what they like. But if it were also the case that these preferences are associated with the different likelihood of producing offspring -- let's say in a ratio of 3:2:1 -- then in the first generation, there would be 3 greens to 2 oranges to 1 red, and in each subsequent generation, the proportion of greens increase, so that in 10 generations, 98 percent of this population has a green preference. Now, a scientist coming in and sampling this population discovers that green preferences are universal. So the point about this little abstract example is that while preferences for specific physical features can be arbitrary for the individual, if those features are heritable and they are associated with a reproductive advantage, over time, they become universal for the group.
Zamislite populaciju u kojoj ljudi imaju tri različita vida preferenci: za zeleno, narandžasto i crveno. S njihove tačke gledišta, ovi prioriteti nemaju nikakve veze sa zdravljem; prosto im se to nešto sviđa. Ali ako bi bio slučaj da su ovi prioriteti povezani sa različitom verovatnoćom dobijanja potomstva - recimo u razmeri 3:2:1 - onda će u prvoj generaciji da bude 3 zelena, 2 narandžasta, 1 crveni, a u svakoj sledećoj generaciji, udeo zelenih će da se poveća, pa će za deset generacija, 98 procenata populacije da ima preference prema zelenom. Sad, naučnik koji dođe i napravi uzorak ove populacije će da otkrije da su zelene preference univerzalne. Dakle, poenta ovog kratkog, apstraktnog primera je da, iako preference prema određenim fizičkim crtama mogu da budu arbitrarne za pojedinca, ako su te crte nasledne i u vezi su sa reproduktivnom prednošću, vremenom će da postanu univerzalne za grupu.
So what happens in the brain when we see beautiful people? Attractive faces activate parts of our visual cortex in the back of the brain, an area called the fusiform gyrus, that is especially tuned to processing faces, and an adjacent area called the lateral occipital complex, that is especially attuned to processing objects. In addition, attractive faces activate parts of our reward and pleasure centers in the front and deep in the brain, and these include areas that have complicated names, like the ventral striatum, the orbitofrontal cortex and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Our visual brain that is tuned to processing faces interacts with our pleasure centers to underpin the experience of beauty.
Dakle, šta se dešava u mozgu kad ugledamo lepe ljude? Privlačna lica aktiviraju delove našeg vizuelnog korteksa u pozadini našeg mozga, u oblasti nazvanoj fuziformni girus, koji je naročito podešen da obrađuje lica, a susedna oblast nazvana bočni potiljačni kompleks, koji je naročito podešen za obradu predmeta. Uz to, privlačna lica aktiviraju delove naših centara za nagradu i zadovoljstvo spreda i duboko u mozgu, a to uključuje oblasti koje imaju komplikovana imena, poput ventralnog strijatuma, orbitofrontalnog korteksa i ventromedijalnog prefrontalnog korteksa. Naš vizuelni mozak koji je podešen da obrađuje lica interaguje sa našim centrima za zadovoljstvo kako bi potkrepio iskustvo lepote.
Amazingly, while we all engage with beauty, without our knowledge, beauty also engages us. Our brains respond to attractive faces even when we're not thinking about beauty. We conducted an experiment in which people saw a series of faces, and in one condition, they had to decide if a pair of faces were the same or a different person. Even in this condition, attractive faces drove neural activity robustly in their visual cortex, despite the fact that they were thinking about a person's identity and not their beauty. Another group similarly found automatic responses to beauty within our pleasure centers. Taken together, these studies suggest that our brain automatically responds to beauty by linking vision and pleasure. These beauty detectors, it seems, ping every time we see beauty, regardless of whatever else we might be thinking.
Začudo, dok smo svi angažovani oko lepote, bez našeg znanja, i lepota angažuje nas. Naši mozgovi reaguju na privlačna lica, čak i kad ne razmišljamo o lepoti. Sproveli smo eksperiment u kome su ljudi videli niz lica, a pod jednim uslovom, morali su da odluče da li par lica pripada istoj ili različitoj osobi. Čak i pod ovim uslovom, privlačna lica su pokretala snažnu nervnu aktivnost u vizuelnom korteksu, uprkos činjenici da su razmišljali o identitetu osobe, a ne o njenoj lepoti. Druga grupa je slično otkrila automatsku reakciju na lepotu unutar naših centara za zadovoljstvo. Uzeta zajedno, ova istraživanja nagoveštavaju da naš mozak automatski reaguje na lepotu povezujući vid i zadovoljstvo. Čini se da ovi detektori lepote zablešte svaki put kad vidimo lepotu, bez obzira na bilo šta drugo o čemu budemo razmišljali.
We also have a "beauty is good" stereotype embedded in the brain. Within the orbitofrontal cortex, there's overlapping neural activity in response to beauty and to goodness, and this happens even when people aren't explicitly thinking about beauty or goodness. Our brains seem to reflexively associate beauty and good. And this reflexive association may be the biologic trigger for the many social effects of beauty. Attractive people receive all kinds of advantages in life. They're regarded as more intelligent, more trustworthy, they're given higher pay and lesser punishments, even when such judgments are not warranted.
Takođe u mozgu imamo ugrađen stereotip "lepota je dobra". Unutar orbitofrontalnog korteksa, imamo preklapajuću nervnu aktivnost kao odgovor na lepotu i dobrotu, a to se dešava čak i kad ljudi eksplicitno ne razmišljaju o lepoti ili dobroti. Čini se da naši mozgovi refleksivno povezuju lepotu i dobrotu. A ova refleksivna asocijacija bi mogla da bude biološki okidač za mnoge društvene efekte lepote. Privlačni ljudi imaju razne vidove prednosti u životu. Smatraju ih inteligentnijim, pouzdanijim, imaju veće plate i ređe ih kažnjavaju, čak i kad su slični sudovi neosnovani.
These kinds of observations reveal beauty's ugly side. In my lab, we recently found that people with minor facial anomalies and disfigurements are regarded as less good, less kind, less intelligent, less competent and less hardworking. Unfortunately, we also have a "disfigured is bad" stereotype. This stereotype is probably exploited and magnified by images in popular media, in which facial disfigurement is often used as a shorthand to depict someone of villainous character. We need to understand these kinds of implicit biases if we are to overcome them and aim for a society in which we treat people fairly, based on their behavior and not on the happenstance of their looks.
Ovakva zapažanja otkrivaju ružnu stranu lepote. Nedavno smo u mojoj laboratoriji otkrili da ljude sa manjim anomalijama i deformitetima lica smatraju manje dobrim, manje plemenitim, manje inteligentnim, manje kompetentnim i manje vrednim. Nažalost, takođe imamo stereotip "deformisanost znači zlo". Ovaj stereotip je verovatno eksploatisan i uveličan prizorima iz popularnih medija, u kojima se deformitet lica često koristi kao prečica za prikazivanje nekoga ko ima karakter negativca. Moramo da razumemo ove vidove implicitne pristrasnosti, ako želimo da ih prevaziđemo i da težimo društvu u kom se prema ljudima odnosimo pošteno, zasnovano na njihovom ponašanju, a ne zbog slučajnosti kako izgledaju.
Let me leave you with one final thought. Beauty is a work in progress. The so-called universal attributes of beauty were selected for during the almost two million years of the Pleistocene. Life was nasty, brutish and a very long time ago. The selection criteria for reproductive success from that time doesn't really apply today.
Dozvolite da završim finalnim zapažanjem. Lepota je delo u nastajanju. Takozvani univerzalni atributi lepote su odabrani tokom skoro dva miliona godina pleistocena. Život je bio gadan, nasilan i veoma veoma dalek. Tadašnji kriterijum selekcije za reproduktivni uspeh, danas je zaista neprimenjiv.
For example, death by parasite is not one of the top ways that people die, at least not in the technologically developed world. From antibiotics to surgery, birth control to in vitro fertilization, the filters for reproductive success are being relaxed. And under these relaxed conditions, preference and trait combinations are free to drift and become more variable. Even as we are profoundly affecting our environment, modern medicine and technological innovation is profoundly affecting the very essence of what it means to look beautiful. The universal nature of beauty is changing even as we're changing the universe.
Na primer, smrt od parazita nije jedan od najčešćih uzročnika smrti, barem ne u tehnološki razvijenom svetu. Od antibiotika do operacije, kontracepcije i vantelesne oplodnje, filteri za reproduktivni uspeh popuštaju. A pod ovim labavijim uslovima, preference i kombinacije osobina mogu slobodno da se kreću i da postanu varijabilnije. Čak i dok suštinski utičemo na okolinu, savremena medicina i tehnološke inovacije suštinski utiču na samu srž toga šta znači izgledati lepo. Univerzalna priroda lepote se menja, čak i dok menjamo univerzum.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)