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I would say that the numbers would fit the classic bell curve, with most of us being somewhere in the middle, and few people on the edges, a standard deviation or two above or below the mean.
I would say that the numbers would fit the classic bell curve, with most of us being somewhere in the middle, and few people on the edges, a standard deviation or two above or below the mean.
If you look at studies of all kinds of human traits (numerically scored intelligence, numerically-rated attractiveness, etc) you'll end up with the normal curve. So about 68% of the population would fall into the "average" range, being within one standard deviation of the mean (the exact average). then you'll have about 13.6% of people coming up in the range from 1 to 2 standard deviations above the mean (you might consider then rated as "above average" attractiveness), and the same for those between 1-2 standard deviations below the mean (they might be categorized as "below average"). Then you have about 2% of people falling into the "very attractive" or "very unattractive" ranges, being between 2-3 standard deviations from the mean.
Then you have the outliers: about 0.1% of people who are over-the-top attractive and 0.1% who are horribly disfigured.
There might be differences in geographical areas, like NYC or LA, or all of Sweden, you might see a skewed distribution, with more in the "attractive" ranges, but when you balance it out with the population as a whole, it always will end up with the bell curve. Of course you would have to have empirically-rated "attractiveness" as scored by multiple populations of people, so you can account for individual difference in taste & preference.
Does it mean the most common place appearance or an appearance that is dead center between ugly & beautiful (so that it is neither)?
Also, are you using the mean, the median or the mode?
I think when people say "average", they are referring to the median because they mean an appearance that is neither ugly nor beautiful; however, that may not truly be the most common appearance. People mistakenly think this middle must be the most common though. Sometimes people may be referring the mean average too, but rarely do they refer to a mode average.
If you were to use numbers, then to most people, the average would mean someone who is a 5 on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being most attractive). However, that doesn't mean that most people are 5s or that a 5 even exits. If you have a lot of high & low numbers, then a 5 individual could be rare and still be the standard for "average" looks. For example, most people could be 2s (or "ugly"), but people would still not call them average, despite it being the most frequently occurring appearance.
FYI, in reality, I hate rating people with numbers as it dehumanizes them, and I think it's waaaay too hard to define any objective standard for attractiveness to even begin measuring this stuff.
FYI, in reality, I hate rating people with numbers as it dehumanizes them, and I think it's waaaay too hard to define any objective standard for attractiveness to even begin measuring this stuff.
Agreed.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Although basic hygiene is very important to me... personality & character can make or break some.
Also, some people are not very good looking, but know how to make themselves look good. And some are good looking - behind their sloppy appearances.
1/3 are obese so that insanely makes 1/3 ugly. I think its possible for overweight people to be average. IMO, I think its 1/3 of overweight people. So thats about 11% of overweight people who are average and another 1/3 fall below average. IMO, it is impossible to be attractive and overweight. Myself, I put myself in mildly attractive.
Very attractive- 5%
Mildy attractive- 10%
Average- 20%
Below average -20%
Ugly-45%
If you look at studies of all kinds of human traits (numerically scored intelligence, numerically-rated attractiveness, etc) you'll end up with the normal curve. So about 68% of the population would fall into the "average" range, being within one standard deviation of the mean (the exact average). then you'll have about 13.6% of people coming up in the range from 1 to 2 standard deviations above the mean (you might consider then rated as "above average" attractiveness), and the same for those between 1-2 standard deviations below the mean (they might be categorized as "below average"). Then you have about 2% of people falling into the "very attractive" or "very unattractive" ranges, being between 2-3 standard deviations from the mean.
Then you have the outliers: about 0.1% of people who are over-the-top attractive and 0.1% who are horribly disfigured.
There might be differences in geographical areas, like NYC or LA, or all of Sweden, you might see a skewed distribution, with more in the "attractive" ranges, but when you balance it out with the population as a whole, it always will end up with the bell curve. Of course you would have to have empirically-rated "attractiveness" as scored by multiple populations of people, so you can account for individual difference in taste & preference.
Judging by real-life observation, as well as the threads on the relationships forum on how many people each sex considered physically attractive, I'd say "sure" to normal distribution, but with the curve on men shifted to the left(towards unattractive), and the curve on women shifted to the right(towards attractive), this is because Men find WAAAAAAAAAAAY more women physically attractive than women do men.
As the typical womens answer was that 0-5 or 0-10% of men are attractive, while men typically say 50-75% of women are attractive...
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