How much do our looks determine our personality?

[Llewelyn]

Originally Posted by hr013137

I strongly disagree with this, ukrkoz, and just because you state it like it is a fact does not make it a fact. No one is a blank slate when they are born. Basic personality is determined by our genes. Look at studies of twins who have been separated at birth for whatever reason, studies that show evidence that despite the fact that they did not grow up together, twins still have some personality traits in common with each other. Read about adopted people who have reunited with their biological families and have discovered the similarities they share with their biological family members. Those similarities are not coincidences--they're genetics.

I would agree with this and have seen similar studies as well.

Not to mention the ol' classic high testosterone levels guys. You know the ones, they look aggressive and just so happen to be so? So I would say there is definitely both a biological and environmental aspect at work in dealing with determining who we become. ukrkoz actually made very mention of this feature, but it kind of contradicted what he said earlier about a blank slate. I don't believe that people's perception of these features is what made them criminals, because where did the perception originate from? A predisposition for violence among men with higher testosterone.

[Llewelyn]

Originally Posted by Billy_J

I've known people who were exceptionally good looking and had the idea they were ugly, had low self-esteem, etc.

And I've known people who were not so good looking and had great self-esteem, were outgoing, and had no problem getting dates or married.

And good or not so good looks are not really developed until the later teens. So you have a LOT of years of developing your personality before looks ever comes into play. I think a person's personality is pretty well set by then.

I disagree, I find that the 'ugliness' of a person often presents itself as early as the onset of puberty, but it honestly depends on what kind of ugly we're talking about. Being overweight? That could occur to someone at any point in time and isn't quite 'naturally ugly' in my opinion, because weight can be lost and can turn an average looking person into a stunner if the looks are there. But if you have bad bone structure or poor growth of some kind (this can result from many different things, ranging from breathing habits to the level of testosterone you're exposed to) it will impact your appearance from the beginning of puberty onwards.

Also saying "I've known people" suggests that I was saying that you can never be ugly and have a positive outlook, which wasn't really what I was saying. I don't think attractiveness will singlehandedly make you one way or another, but it's a significant contributor to who you are. We all want positive reception from our peers, being attractive makes you automatically more accepted without having to do anything, while being ugly ostracizes you when you've done nothing worthy of that kind of treatment.