What if everyone was beautiful

It is very interesting that those who reported a greater belief in oneness were also more likely to regard other people like members of their own group and to identify with all of humanity. There is an abundance of identity politics these days, with people believing that their own ideology is the best one, and a belief that those who disagree with one's own ideology are evil or somehow less than human.

It might be beneficial for people all across the political spectrum to recognize and hold in mind a belief in oneness even as they are asserting their values and political beliefs. Only having "compassion" for those who are in your in-group, and vilifying or even becoming violent toward those who you perceive as the out-group, is not only antithetical to world peace more broadly, but is also counter-productive to political progress that advances the greater good of all humans on this planet.

I also think these findings have important implications for education. Even if some adults may be hopeless when it comes to changing their beliefs, most children are not. Other beliefs-- such as a belief that intelligence can learn and grow " growth mindset " -- are extraordinarily popular in education these days. However, I wonder what the implications would be if all students were also explicitly trained to believe that we are all part of the same fundamental humanity, actively showing students through group discussions and activities how we all have insecurities and imperfections, and how underneath the superficial differences in opinions and political beliefs, we all have the same fundamental needs for connection, purpose, and to matter in this vast universe.

Perhaps now, more than ever in the course of human history, we would benefit more from a oneness mindset. The views expressed are those of the author s and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph. He has taught courses on intelligence, creativity, and well-being at Columbia University, NYU, the University of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. In , he was named one of "50 Groundbreaking Scientists who are changing the way we see the world" by Business Insider.

He wrote the extremely popular Beautiful Minds blog for Scientific American for close to a decade. Who do we blame? The media , unsurprisingly, among a host of potential culprits. In the absence of population-level interventions to improve our body image, social media and corporations have filled the void.

It does. Attractive people are also considered more intelligent , sociable, trustworthy, honest, capable, competent, likable, and friendly. We could attempt to convince people that they are beautiful. If we accept conventional beauty as one single area in which someone may excel, but not as something all-encompassing that we must all have or want to achieve, then we take away the power of ugly.

Emphasizing value takes away subjectivity. Who is attractive and who is not is subjective. Who is respected and treated as a whole human being should not be. Unlike beauty, it can be applied equally to everyone. Heather M. Jones is a writer, mom and Torontonian. She writes about parenting, humor and social justice issues. She can be reached via her website at www. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline.

HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Upside: people would be healthier overall. Downside: little else would change, people would find other things to establish social hierarchies and standards for sexual attractiveness. R0b1n Member. Jun 29, 6, Everyone would judge attractiveness by voice instead. Alienous Member. Oct 25, 8, I think it would be a net positive. People would more freely be able to choose jobs, more relationships would be formed based on character, people wouldn't be elevated to celebrity status for their looks.

Deleted member Banned. Oct 27, 4, Wouldnt change a thing. Many businesses rely and prey on people feeling insecure. They'd just have to find new things to magnify. Dyno The Fallen. Oct 25, 7, Gotta agree with the people saying it would just be a change to the scale which we judge beauty on. You'd still have people who qualify as 'ugly' on this new scale. RupertM Banned.

Nov 18, 1, It would change society. People underestimate what a massive role our perceptions of physical beauty and attractiveness play in life.

Least of all in your dating and love life but more importantly in your professional life and career opportunities. I think people being uniformly beautiful might get us something close to a meritocracy. Nicktals said:. Alienous said:.

TheFireman Banned. Dec 22, 3, It could very well be a 'be careful what you wish for' situation. Imagine if all those MRAs or incels were suddenly attractive but still couldn't get laid.

RupertM said:. It would end up like this. Ernest Banned. Oct 25, 4, So. No, because then we'd make a bigger deal over small differences instead. HStallion Member. Oct 25, 48, This is actually fodder for a lot of scifi stories out there. The Forever Wars ending actually deals with something like this but taken to a much more extreme level. Holundrian Member. Beauty standards would just adjust.

As I understand it they already can differ depending on cultural environment. And they were also different in the past to what they are today. It's one of the weird things to become aware of is how much probably hollywood and after that general net media has influenced people's idea of beauty. Oct 26, 7, Here's the thing: what is beauty?