Sex and design in our evolutionary cousins: The perception of beauty in nature

Authors

  • Tamra C. Mendelson University of Maryland, Baltimore (USA).
  • Michael J. Ryan University of Texas, Austin (USA).

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.24202

Keywords:

beauty, neuroaesthetics, perceptual fluency, sensory bias, sexual selection

Abstract

Taking an evolutionary approach to the question of beauty, we discuss the expression and perception of sexual beauty across the animal kingdom. Animals experience beauty in their brains, and animal brains are tuned to features of the environment most relevant to their survival. Over evolutionary time, sexually reproducing animals have exploited that tuning to maximize their attractiveness to the opposite sex, often leading to extreme courtship traits and behaviors. These are the traits of sexual beauty. Combining modern principles of neuroscience and neuroaesthetics with established principles of evolutionary biology, we aim to understand the biological basis and evolution of beauty in all animals, including ourselves.

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Author Biographies

Tamra C. Mendelson, University of Maryland, Baltimore (USA).

Professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (USA). Her research focuses on the causes and consequences of evolutionary change in communication systems. She tries to understand why male colour patterns have diversified so extensively in darters, and the consequences of that divergence.

Michael J. Ryan, University of Texas, Austin (USA).

Professor at the Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin (USA). Most of his work has addressed sexual selection and communication in frogs and fish. He is especially interested in integrating an understanding of the mechanisms of communication involved in mate attraction with the evolutionary consequences of sexual selection. In 2018, he published A taste for the beautiful: The evolution of attraction (Princeton University Press).

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Published

2023-02-23

How to Cite

Mendelson, T. C., & Ryan, M. J. (2023). Sex and design in our evolutionary cousins: The perception of beauty in nature. Metode Science Studies Journal, (13), 145–151. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.24202
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Issue

Science. The genesis of ideas (vol. 13, 2023)

Section

Beauty and nature

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