Attractiveness

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (March 2008)

Attractiveness, attractive quality or attraction refer to a quality to be the cause of the emotion of attraction in a person. An attraction emotion is an interest or desire in something or someone.^[1]

The term "attraction" may also refer to the object of the attraction itself, as in "tourist attraction."

Contents 1 Visual attractiveness 1.1 Eye candy 2 Physical attractiveness 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Visual attractiveness

Visual attractiveness or visual appeal is attraction produced primarily by visual stimuli.

[edit] Eye candy

A common slang term for visually appealing persons or effects used to draw mass attention is eye candy.^[2] The implication is that they are eye-catching in a superficial fashion, for example due to adding an element of sexuality. Like actual "candy" this addition is seen to be neither nutritious nor substantial, but rather provides a potentially addictive appeal which will sustain the attention of a wider audience, possibly despite their better nature.

The term may have been originated by interactive videodisc, user interface designers working at INTERAC Corp. in 1983.^{[citation needed]} Their work marked some of the first instances of multiplane visual computing, integrating text, audio, graphics, photographic images, and video into a seamless presentation. The "eye candy" referred to visually appealing images supporting the overall message.

The term is also used to refer to actors or actresses perceived to have been cast primarily for the visual enjoyment of the audience, e.g. for their sex appeal. Various novels, articles, and stories have used this slang term to show a physical attraction one person has toward another.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Physical attractiveness

Physical attractiveness is the perception of the physical traits of an individual human person as pleasing or beautiful. It can include various implications, such as sexual attractiveness, cuteness, and physique. Judgment of attractiveness of physical traits is partly universal to all human cultures, partly dependent on culture or society or time period, partly scientific ^[3]. and partly a matter of individual subjective preference.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Interpersonal attraction

[edit] References

• Andrew Ortony, Gerald L. Clore, Allan Collins (1990) "The Cognitive Structure of Emotions"