In order to learn more about concepts of beauty that people hold, I read the book Survival of the Prettiest by Nancy Etcoff. Here is my review of this book:
Survival of the Prettiest - Nancy Etcoff (1999)
Survival of the Prettiest (Etcoff, 1999) proved to be a very interesting read for me. I first chose this book because I knew that I wanted to focus on concepts of beauty in the Social Studies unit that I wanted to design for my Kindergarten students. When I found this book on the Internet, I was very excited because this book sounded like a great integration of social studies and science. The review that I read on the Internet described this book as one that delves into cultural aspects of beauty, which is exactly what I wanted to focus on in my unit on beauty. I also knew that this book brings in aspects of biology, which is something that I never considered when envisioning this unit in my mind. Therefore, I decided that this would be the perfect book to support my background knowledge of this topic while also showing me a new side of beauty to which I have had no previous experience.
Nancy Etcoff, author of Survival of the Prettiest is currently a faculty member and psychologist at Harvard Medical School and has been studying how concepts of beauty, the brain, and emotions all affect one another. Her work has been cited in many newspapers and has made appearances on television shows; such as, Oprah Winfrey, Good Morning America, and Dateline (Edge). Because Etcoff has a background of psychology and has studied the brain, she has written this book in order to provide an argument against the beliefs that beauty is a construct of one’s culture or that it is affected by the current fashion or hair trends of the time. Although she does believe that there are aspects of our culture which cause us to believe that certain behaviors or appearances may be more beautiful than others, Etcoff ultimately believes that we were born with innate biological features that cause us to believe that certain physical characteristics are beautiful in a person. Etcoff recognizes that fashion trends change and so do our beliefs of what body structures or hair styles are more beautiful, but in the end, she believes that regardless of these beliefs, we were all genetically pre-determined to believe that anything that makes someone look fertile is what is the most beautiful.
In Survival of the Prettiest, Etcoff begins with descriptions of what was considered beautiful hundreds of years ago and how that compares to our perceptions of beauty today. For example, she explains that in the 1500s, “Ugliness was a sign of the bad, mad, or dangerous” and that “outward beauty is a true sign of inner goodness. . .” (Etcoff, 1999, p. 40). Etcoff says that although these may not be the exact same beliefs that are held today, there are definitely still remnants of this type of thinking. This is why people will go extreme lengths to change the appearance of their faces or bodies through cosmetic procedures or extreme diet and exercise. Although we may not believe that ugly means dangerous anymore, Etcoff strives to prove in her book that we are not generally attracted to “ugly” people because we innately believe that they are not as fertile as “pretty” people, and this fertility is what we strive for in a good mate. She cites multiple studies that people throughout the world have taken to prove these theories. Etcoff also delves into other aspects of beauty; such as money, social position, etc, and explains why people tend to find these qualities in a person attractive. Although Etcoff does go into some detail in regard to cultural conceptions of beauty; i.e, how hair styles are considered extremely beautiful to people in the African American culture, this remains a minor component of her book. Instead, she is trying to prove that regardless of where and when we were born, we all were born genetically programmed to believe that certain characteristics in a person are beautiful.
This book was much different than I thought it was going to be. It was definitely an interesting read, but it was not what I expected. It ended up being much more of a biological study of beauty instead of a cultural study. It was good because I have never learned much about how biology can play a major role in what we as individuals believe is beautiful in people or in the world, but I realized that this book did not end up connecting with my unit as much as I hoped it would. I enjoyed reading this book, but it also became a somewhat disheartening read at the same time because Etcoff is directly revealing what men or women believe is beautiful about the other sex, and how these beliefs will most likely never change. There were many points that Etcoff brought up throughout this book that really made me wonder. Do I truly believe that every person was genetically determined to only consider that characteristics that make someone look fertile are beautiful? I’m not sure if I completely agree with Etcoff, but these are definitely interesting points that make the readers truly begin to think about their own innate beliefs that they may never have realized that they hold.
Although this book was a bit disheartening to read at times, I do believe that Etcoff raised many real issues about the world and about our real, and somewhat ridiculous, beliefs about what is beautiful. Because I am focusing a lot on cultural conceptions of beauty in the unit that I am designing, it would have been nice to read more about this aspect of beauty in the book. However, I do recognize that Etcoff’s goal in this book is to prove that although culture may play a role in what we consider beautiful, in the end she believes that our perceptions of beauty lie much deeper than our cultures. Instead, it lies in our genes. Therefore, it makes sense that she did not include much information about the cultural component of beauty in this book. My own beliefs about perceptions of beauty were definitely broadened through reading Survival of the Prettiest, but I am not yet sure if I completely agree with Etcoff’s theory that beauty is really only a construct of our biology.
Although this book did not end up connecting to my unit on concepts of beauty as much as I had originally hoped, it still ended up being a very interesting and educational read for me. When I interviewed my Kindergarten students about “What makes a person beautiful?” a few of them talked about how pretty people have blonde hair, look like princesses, and have things such as necklaces and high heel shoes. Therefore, it was interesting to see many of these same ideas come up in Survival of the Prettiest. This idea that beautiful people look like princesses is a concept that many young children hold, but this book proved that it is also a concept that many adults hold, whether we notice it or not. This connection between my actual students’ way of thinking and what Etcoff believes about the thinking of all people was very intriguing to me. It inspired me to want to incorporate this aspect of beauty into my unit. It is important that students recognize and explore these beliefs that we hold about beauty. I would not want to tell my students that their beliefs are wrong, because they are not wrong. However, I want children to understand that blonde hair, thin bodies, and lots of money are not the only things that make someone beautiful.
Resources
Edge, (n.d.). The third culture: Nancy Etcoff. Retrieved from
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/etcoff.html
Etcoff, N. (1999). Survival of the prettiest: the science of beauty. New York,
NY: Random House, Inc.
Nancy Etcoff, author of Survival of the Prettiest is currently a faculty member and psychologist at Harvard Medical School and has been studying how concepts of beauty, the brain, and emotions all affect one another. Her work has been cited in many newspapers and has made appearances on television shows; such as, Oprah Winfrey, Good Morning America, and Dateline (Edge). Because Etcoff has a background of psychology and has studied the brain, she has written this book in order to provide an argument against the beliefs that beauty is a construct of one’s culture or that it is affected by the current fashion or hair trends of the time. Although she does believe that there are aspects of our culture which cause us to believe that certain behaviors or appearances may be more beautiful than others, Etcoff ultimately believes that we were born with innate biological features that cause us to believe that certain physical characteristics are beautiful in a person. Etcoff recognizes that fashion trends change and so do our beliefs of what body structures or hair styles are more beautiful, but in the end, she believes that regardless of these beliefs, we were all genetically pre-determined to believe that anything that makes someone look fertile is what is the most beautiful.
In Survival of the Prettiest, Etcoff begins with descriptions of what was considered beautiful hundreds of years ago and how that compares to our perceptions of beauty today. For example, she explains that in the 1500s, “Ugliness was a sign of the bad, mad, or dangerous” and that “outward beauty is a true sign of inner goodness. . .” (Etcoff, 1999, p. 40). Etcoff says that although these may not be the exact same beliefs that are held today, there are definitely still remnants of this type of thinking. This is why people will go extreme lengths to change the appearance of their faces or bodies through cosmetic procedures or extreme diet and exercise. Although we may not believe that ugly means dangerous anymore, Etcoff strives to prove in her book that we are not generally attracted to “ugly” people because we innately believe that they are not as fertile as “pretty” people, and this fertility is what we strive for in a good mate. She cites multiple studies that people throughout the world have taken to prove these theories. Etcoff also delves into other aspects of beauty; such as money, social position, etc, and explains why people tend to find these qualities in a person attractive. Although Etcoff does go into some detail in regard to cultural conceptions of beauty; i.e, how hair styles are considered extremely beautiful to people in the African American culture, this remains a minor component of her book. Instead, she is trying to prove that regardless of where and when we were born, we all were born genetically programmed to believe that certain characteristics in a person are beautiful.
This book was much different than I thought it was going to be. It was definitely an interesting read, but it was not what I expected. It ended up being much more of a biological study of beauty instead of a cultural study. It was good because I have never learned much about how biology can play a major role in what we as individuals believe is beautiful in people or in the world, but I realized that this book did not end up connecting with my unit as much as I hoped it would. I enjoyed reading this book, but it also became a somewhat disheartening read at the same time because Etcoff is directly revealing what men or women believe is beautiful about the other sex, and how these beliefs will most likely never change. There were many points that Etcoff brought up throughout this book that really made me wonder. Do I truly believe that every person was genetically determined to only consider that characteristics that make someone look fertile are beautiful? I’m not sure if I completely agree with Etcoff, but these are definitely interesting points that make the readers truly begin to think about their own innate beliefs that they may never have realized that they hold.
Although this book was a bit disheartening to read at times, I do believe that Etcoff raised many real issues about the world and about our real, and somewhat ridiculous, beliefs about what is beautiful. Because I am focusing a lot on cultural conceptions of beauty in the unit that I am designing, it would have been nice to read more about this aspect of beauty in the book. However, I do recognize that Etcoff’s goal in this book is to prove that although culture may play a role in what we consider beautiful, in the end she believes that our perceptions of beauty lie much deeper than our cultures. Instead, it lies in our genes. Therefore, it makes sense that she did not include much information about the cultural component of beauty in this book. My own beliefs about perceptions of beauty were definitely broadened through reading Survival of the Prettiest, but I am not yet sure if I completely agree with Etcoff’s theory that beauty is really only a construct of our biology.
Although this book did not end up connecting to my unit on concepts of beauty as much as I had originally hoped, it still ended up being a very interesting and educational read for me. When I interviewed my Kindergarten students about “What makes a person beautiful?” a few of them talked about how pretty people have blonde hair, look like princesses, and have things such as necklaces and high heel shoes. Therefore, it was interesting to see many of these same ideas come up in Survival of the Prettiest. This idea that beautiful people look like princesses is a concept that many young children hold, but this book proved that it is also a concept that many adults hold, whether we notice it or not. This connection between my actual students’ way of thinking and what Etcoff believes about the thinking of all people was very intriguing to me. It inspired me to want to incorporate this aspect of beauty into my unit. It is important that students recognize and explore these beliefs that we hold about beauty. I would not want to tell my students that their beliefs are wrong, because they are not wrong. However, I want children to understand that blonde hair, thin bodies, and lots of money are not the only things that make someone beautiful.
Resources
Edge, (n.d.). The third culture: Nancy Etcoff. Retrieved from
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/etcoff.html
Etcoff, N. (1999). Survival of the prettiest: the science of beauty. New York,
NY: Random House, Inc.
