Why beautiful things make people happy

Even in ancient times, people noticed that beautiful things bring joy. Therefore, even now, even utilitarian objects, such as dishes, are trying to make elegant, pleasing to the eye. Little has changed since the days of primitive man, except that now we are thinking about why beautiful things help us feel happy.

Neither a clay bowl nor a battle axe need be beautiful. Nevertheless, people spent extra time and effort to make the items look attractive. It turns out that beauty is important even for the objects from which you eat soup or with which you kill the enemy. For centuries, philosophers and thinkers have been trying to understand the essence of beauty. Why are some things exciting and others disappointing?

No one has given an exact answer to this question so far. But at the same time, scientists have proposed several hypotheses from different points of view, explaining the beauty. The most popular version remains based on the laws of nature. Ancient man noticed that everything edible and useful, most often, is symmetrical, smooth and bright. On the other hand, the spoiled and useless often looks dried up, spoiled and, sometimes, frankly disgusting.

A ripe fruit on a tree branch, a deer making its way through the thicket, the murmuring water in the stream — all this was attractive. This also applied to sexual partners. Fertile, physically healthy men and women were very different from the old and sick. The brain gradually consolidated positive signs. So there were associations that help to accurately determine what is useful and safe. It helped to survive in a hostile primitive world.

Millennia passed, generations changed, and so a stable concept of the beautiful appeared. It can be concluded that people consider beautiful what is beneficial in nature, provides security and helps reproduction. Now life has become easier, but the rules learned by numerous ancestors continue to work.

One of the features of man that distinguishes him from animals is the ability to distinguish patterns. This concept means drawings, patterns and textures. It is important for us to consider images, and each one is new, and the lack of fresh visual impressions can lead to stress. A person is anxious when he constantly observes the same thing.

An environment where there is something to consider is always attractive. Our brain is busy and we don't want to leave an interesting place at all. This explains why we are uncomfortable in a room with gray concrete walls or among the high-rise buildings of a residential neighborhood. The monotony around us drives us into a sense of despondency and even anxiety.

We like interiors replete with details: books, figurines, paintings, unusual furniture, carpets. They have something to consider and analyze, the brain seems to tell us: "Let's stay here and consider more." Therefore, the hypothesis has the right to life that diversity is considered beautiful, and monotony and a shortage of interesting little things are considered ugly.

Many scientists believe that the concept of beauty is impermanent. In their opinion, it changes as a person's environment changes. If we look at the same thing day after day, it gradually loses its appeal.  We want something new that hasn't filled our teeth.

Passion for the new is part of human nature. There is an opinion that the ancient people, who loved everything old, did not know how to adapt to the changing world, did not give offspring and died out. This explains that today we may like smooth and white, and tomorrow sulfur and rough will be in the trend.

Bionics is in fashion now, tomorrow the time of industrial will come again, and then, perhaps, we will return to the classic. In any case, the beautiful always has one or more signs from the short list: it is either useful, or interesting, or just new. These three properties are important for human survival.