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Appearance/Beauty in Girls

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science
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Synonyms

Appearance; Attractiveness; Dominance; Youth

Definition

Physical attractiveness in prepubescent females.

Introduction

Attractiveness is more important to females, as males weigh female attractiveness much more than females weigh male attractiveness, and beauty plays a role in social evaluations from infancy in girls. Physical appearance might represent a female’s youth and reproductive value, leading to intrasexual (same-sex) competition among girls with attractiveness as a primary target.

Cultural Differences in Beauty

In all human societies, physical characteristics are an important factor in determining whom one finds attractive. Individuals across all cultures appear to have the same basic range of internal states, emotions, and external signals, but humans demonstrate plasticity of emotional response regarding what is physically attractive. Characteristics considered to be attractive vary considerably across cultures, and there is a fair degree of malleability in...

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Correspondence to Jason Grotuss .

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Grotuss, J., Beard, S.J. (2016). Appearance/Beauty in Girls. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2406-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2406-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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