It is beyond doubt that appearance is one of the most important aspects of people nowadays. Some people are born ugly, others are born beautiful. Ugly people are disdained by others, ridiculed by their peers, and their efforts are often ignored, while beautiful people are loved and surrounded by others, and even their misbehavior is easily forgiven. The price of ugliness is the loss of many opportunities, while beautiful appearances naturally obtain chances: this issue is a critical example of inequality in modern society.
The cause of this inequality lies in both scientific evidence and social circumstances. Biological studies have shown that, for most species, visual information accounts for almost 80% of the sensory information received by the animal brain. Additionally, human perceptions like memory and thinking also have a large part in the form of visual images when people organize, process, and record information. Thus, visualization is of great importance for human perception, and judging people by appearances is a natural process.
Additionally, visual perception can be categorized as biological and empirical cognition. Biological cognition refers to the process of considering whether a person has qualified features for overall human propagation. Empirical cognition refers to the process in which individuals analyze visual information through their own life experience and make assumptions about intelligence or comprehensive quality.
Furthermore, the acceptance and judgment received by individuals largely depends on social environment. Not only do general principles of physical beauty like symmetry and proportion of face features matter, but age and race also affect people’s opinion on attractiveness. Nevertheless, regardless of different standards, instances where preconceptions are unconsciously imposed upon people exist everywhere in society.
Starting from school, one’s attractiveness affects his treatment and popularity, and thus inequality begins to form. Teachers tend to assume a student’s behavior and intelligence based on their physical appearance; attractive students are more likely to stand out among their peers and become the center of attention. When people step into society and, for instance, attend a job interview, the interviewer may show partiality to more physically attractive people beforehand. A physically attractive person would not only be more likely to find employment but would also more easily get a promotion. Even though knowledge and quality are very important, the image is always the indispensable criterion for an individual to judge another individual.
However, the beauty of man is never superficial. It is a person’s quality, temperament, self-control, proper embellishment, respect for others, and expression of a person’s soul. There may not be absolute fairness and unfairness in this world because inequality inevitably exists everywhere in the world. Therefore, one should take efforts and strive for acceptance with his own merits, knowledge, and capabilities. People should be able to live out the appearance of their soul in life!
