Are we born to love certain things and hate others? Or do we learn what to love and what to hate?
Remember when you were a child, and you hated eating fruits and vegetables? Well, do you see yourself enjoying fruits and vegetables now? That may be the case for some. Personally, I have been through this situation. When I was little, I despised anything healthy. However, now I am somewhat health-conscious, watching what I eat and making sure I have a balanced diet.
Children may not initially like the taste of certain foods, when environmental factors are controlled children can learn to like them anyway. With this in mind, parents can promote wellness by providing a healthy eating environment. In order to provide a healthy eating environment, parents must be a good role model and offer good choices. Kids operate on “monkey see, monkey do,” meaning that they see what others do and imitate. If kids see their parents munching on some carrots, then they would most likely do the same.
Enough about foods. What about people? Why are men more innately attracted to blue-eyed, blonde haired women while women are attracted to tall, dark and handsome men? This may be due to the cultural imperialism of the mostly fair British, then the Americans who made blondee hair and blue eyes a beauty ideal. Light hair and fairness are seen as more attractive, but dark haired and dark skinned are viewed as more masculine.
Blonde hair is unique in that it changes dramatically with age. Typically, young girls with light blonde hair become women with brown hair. Thus, men who prefer to mate with blonde women are unconsciously attempting to mate with younger, healthier and more fecund women.
However, women with blue eyes should not be any different from those with green or brown eyes. Yet preference for blue eyes seems both universal in males and females. One explanation is that the human pupil dilates when an individual is exposed to something that she likes. Those with blue eyes serve as potential mates because it is easiest to see whether or not they are interested in us.
Blonde hair and blue eyes have history and evolution behind it as well as environment. We learn to associate these people with health and fecundity. So, our environment influences what we like to eat and what type of person we love. We are not programmed to hate vegetables, and we are not programmed to love blue eyed people. These examples are what we learn to love and hate.
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I enjoyed reading this blog post because as a child I hated salad and now I love it! Also as a baby I was surprisingly blonde in contrast to my dark brown hair that I have now. The links you presented were also very interesting and informative. I have always wondered the question you presented, "Why are men more innately attracted to blue-eyed, blonde haired women while women are attracted to tall, dark and handsome men?" and the link and your response were very understanding. I think upbringing and culture is a huge part of influencing what each individual loves or hates. The customs we are adjusted to and experiences with our family that we undergo creates our individual interests. So maybe we were born into customs and traditions that sway our ideas of what we love or hate but it is each individuals decision of what he/she ultimately chooses to love or hate at the end.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you enjoyed reading this post and could relate to it! I'm sure that everyone has their past experiences of likes and dislikes.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how blonde hair turns brown later. You said you had blonde hair when you were little and now have brown hair...but you are still young (18 is not considered "old" because 18 year olds have the potential to mate, as described above).
Where you grow up definitely influences personal interests due to culture.
Thanks for your input I'm.a.PC!