Body Beautiful Evolutionary and Socio-Cultural Perspectives

Attempts to provide definitive answers to the secrets of human beauty have persisted for hundreds of years. In this volume, contributors from a range of perspectives--evolutionary psychology to anthropology, sociology to cognitive and motivational psychology--explore the questions of what our attractiveness preferences are and why we find certain others physically attractive. The research and theoretical contributions presented in this volume offer a fresh perspective to understanding the perception of attractiveness, particularly as it relates to bodily attractiveness.

VIREN SWAMI is a Research Associate at the University of Liverpool. He received his doctorate from University College London, where he specialised in evolutionary psychology. His current research interests include interpersonal attraction, especially across cultures, and gender studies. He is the author of The Missing Arms of Venus de Milo and (with Adrian Furnham) of The Psychology of Physcial Attraction, as well as numerous psychological studies.
ADRIAN FURNHAM is an organisational and applied psychologist, management expert and Professor of Psychology at University College London. His research interests are numerous and varied, and in addition to his academic roles, he is a consultant on organisational behaviour and management, writer and broadcaster. He is a prolific writer, is the author, among other books, of The Psychology of Behaviour at Work, Culture Shock and Personality at Work.