

Average faces are not more attractive. Their skin is just smoother - ssp
http://www.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_II/Psychologie/Psy_II/beautycheck/english/schemaanpassungen/schemaanpassungen.htm

======
nostrademons
This is a good example of the type of scientific caveats you need to worry
about when you run an experiment. Chances are, your experiment will tell you
something, but it won't tell you the full story, and if you drill down further
you'll discover something else that's more accurate but probably a less
sensational headline.

~~~
extension
The essence of the problem is in the _generalizing of the conclusion_. The
experiment will rigorously demonstrate something utterly abstract and then the
experimenter will make huge intuitive leaps when interpreting the results.

I have found this to be the most overwhelmingly common flaw with experiments
reported by mainstream journalism, particularly those in the field of
psychology.

~~~
joe_the_user
_The experiment will rigorously demonstrate something utterly abstract_

Actually, the "average faces are more beautiful" claim hung up on something
_very specific_ (skin tone). I think it's _small_ details that aren't
controlled for that often invalidate the more abstract conclusion of
psychology experiments.

------
j_baker
[http://www.uni-
regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_II/Psychol...](http://www.uni-
regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_II/Psychologie/Psy_II/beautycheck/english/schemaanpassungen/m\(1-4\)-g_an_m\(1-32\)-s.jpg)
[http://www.uni-
regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_II/Psychol...](http://www.uni-
regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_II/Psychologie/Psy_II/beautycheck/english/schemaanpassungen/m\(1-4\)-s_an_m\(1-32\)-g.jpg)

I don't think you can make this observation from these two faces. There appear
to be differences in terms of hair and eye color as well. Plus, the facial
hair isn't as visible in the smoothed-out face. I may be being pedantic in
pointing the second point out, but I still think it says that there's more
involved here than just the skin.

Not to mention that the skin color appears to me to "dull" some of the sharper
features of the face by making them less noticeable. I think a case can be
made that skin can have an enhancing effect on an average face, but I don't
think this is enough to write facial structure out altogether.

~~~
raptorex
yeah, well does "attractiveness" of a 2d picture of a face that looks like it
was computer generated (the second male picture) as compared to an actual
person's face actually correlate to physical attraction in the real world? I
don't think you're being overly pedantic.

------
DenisM
The confusion is due to different interpretation of "average". They should
have used _median_ faces instead of _mean_ faces.

Ba-da-bum.

~~~
chancho
Mode faces: <http://dkpresents.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/2ur9h61.jpg>

