#2 (not as good as #1, but it's not a series with just 1 question)

[augiedoggie]

Answer and discuss the following at your leisure:

Does personality influence appearance more, or appearance personality?

Comments

[gorillaintrpted]

(before I start, this is Katrina - since we're not listed as mutual friends on LJ you may have had no idea who this note would be coming from

answer, continued

[gorillaintrpted]

I exceed the maximum amount of words livejournal lets you say, so here's the rest

[craudi]

Initially when I read this question I thought that most definitely personality influences appearance more. After thinking a little more though I can see it both ways...and then after reading Katrina's comments (p.s. i laughed outloud when she had to start her second comment because she had exceeded the limit...I never knew there was a limit on lj comments! haha) I definitely understand and agree with what she said

[martydenicolo]

I would venture to say that appearance affects public personality, not private personality, but only to the extent that public personality is all we need to function within society. Kant has this great essay about sexuality where he explains that The Fall was a GOOD thing insofar as it introduced clothing i.e. fig leaves. With the introduction of clothing humans were then able to define themselves publicly: to live out through an artifice rather than the actual. Shame, then, is a good thing. It gives us the existential ability to create our own identities, and while these may not be our actual identities, they are the identities that allow us to function as human (social) beings

[martydenicolo]

when i said ever-increasing i meant ever-decreasing

[augiedoggie]

What about when public personality has a direct effect on private personality, in ways such as anxiety or joy? A happy person certainly looks more attractive than a grumpy one.

I would assume it would then go to say that when public personality has an influence on the private through personality traits such as being optimistic, empathetic, or a worrywart, appearance influences private personality by proxy.

I don't know whether that's logical or not. There are too many ways to give support or rebuttal.

[rebka_03]

I agree that happy people look more attractive. Anyone who's confident in themselves and has a good personality, as far as the beholder is concerned, will physically look much better to that beholder than if that same person had a disagreeable personality or mood.

There are certainly more than enough people here with all manner of different experiences and feelings on this issue, although I do see a trend in that most of us have said that the main influencer is personality over appearance. I'm just glad we don't have vehement assholes who argue longer than gorillaintrpted's post only to say the same thing 500 times in just as many ways.

w00t for open-minded young adults!

[rebka_03]

The only case I have to present is my own, since I can't tell how others feel, even though sometimes I wish I could, so here it is

[militant_coffee]

I can only speak from my own experiences on this, the past few semesters have beaten the philosopher out of me along with will to research other philosophies, but i would have to say that my appearance has influenced my personality more so then the other way around. I will delve further in to this later though, as i need to work on my senior capstone, as i got jack done this break. I just wanted to actually participate in one of these, if nothing else to show that i think they are interesting.

[augiedoggie]

Thanks for the show of support. I'd like to hear your response in more detail some time, because my friends here assumed that if there was a gender specific answer, women's personalities are more influenced by appearance because of stresses from gender roles and the media. Maybe we are wrong. :::shrugs:::

Have a good St. Patty's and enjoy your Irish heritage.