December 9, 2016
Interview with Ellen Sinkman, author of the book The Psychology of Beauty
Mike Carruthers: The desire to look beautiful and to be attractive to others – where does it come from?
Ellen Sinkman: First of all I would say that normal healthy interest in beauty is what everyone hopefully has. We all want to look good for ourselves and for others.
Ellen Sinkman, author of the book The Psychology of Beauty, says the desire to be beautiful is programmed into us.
Archeologists have found evidence of Neanderthals creating jewelry out of vividly colored cosmetic seashells. And they have found in ancient Egyptian mummy’s primitive orthodontics– they used cat gut to straighten teeth and close gaps. So those are some of the indications but cosmetics and jewelry were manufactured before spoken language.
Wanting to be attractive appears to go beyond just attracting a mate and having babies to keep the species alive.
It has to do with feeling vital and full of life and not decaying. We all want to hold onto to life. And beauty is power, you feel empowered and confident, able to enter life with energy if you have a sense that you control how you look.
But outer beauty is not the whole story.
If you feel beautiful inside then you project a kind of beauty and confidence and power. And that’s really more important than whether your lips are rounded or narrow.
