Flowers are beautiful

[Genady]

It is obvious why bees and butterflies are attracted to flowers. But why do humans find flowers attractive?

[exchemist]

18 minutes ago, Genady said:

It is obvious why bees and butterflies are attracted to flowers. But why do humans find flowers attractive?

We also find trees attractive, though we are not attracted to them physically, in the way bees and butterflies are to flowers, as they are not a food source for us. Probably it  is to do with being apes. We find trees restful, as they are historically our natural environment. I would guess fruit was an important food source to both apes and early man, so perception of their colours would have been important and we would have found them attractive. Perhaps with flowers it is part of the same response, arising from the colours, or just that flowers indicate a botanically rich environment, with the promise of fruit to come. 

[Genady]

14 minutes ago, exchemist said:

flowers indicate a botanically rich environment, with the promise of fruit to come

Exactly. They indicate that there are no fruits there yet. So, for now, one should look for fruits somewhere else. Flowers should've been rather discouraging then.

[mistermack]

Our ancestors would have eaten flowers, just as monkeys and apes do, as part of their diet. What we like about flowers is generally their freshness and health. We don't find old shrivelled flowers beautiful, even though they are part of the life cycle, and generally producing seeds that could be edible. 

The psychology of beauty is evolutionary. We admire forms that look fit and healthy and athletic, which is probably part of our reproductive instincts. Young fit-looking bodies are attractive, even if we aren't sexually attracted. Hence, we find a leopard beautiful, and a hyena ugly, because the body types resemble youth and fitness, (in the case of the leopard) and age and over-weight (in the case of the hyena). Even though it might be a young fit hyena, and an old decrepit leopard. We mentally transform the body form to what it would mean on a human. 

Flowers generally look fresh and healthy, when they have just emerged. We don't want flowers that have gone past freshness, even though the colours might be the same. It might just be a general attraction to health, or it might also be a hangover from when the flowers were on the menu.

[Genady]

11 minutes ago, mistermack said:

Our ancestors would have eaten flowers, just as monkeys and apes do, as part of their diet. ... it might also be a hangover from when the flowers were on the menu.

They have eaten insects, too... And other not-so-attractive stuff.

[joigus]

Liver

I think symmetry and simple patterns are part of the deal. That would be my guess anyway. I understand we're just guessing...

[mistermack]

1 hour ago, Genady said:

They have eaten insects, too... And other not-so-attractive stuff.

True. Insects can be nasty as well as tasty though. But with flowers, there might be some connection to food, in the colouring, but I think it's more to do with form and healthiness. Flowers only have to shrivel a little bit, to lose their beauty. Maybe it's an illusion of youth. We generally find youth attractive, at least when it resembles human youth in some way. Flowers petals look youthful, like a baby's skin. Smooth in texture and colour. It's a young healthy look. Hyenas are ugly, but their cubs are very cute. 

Mind you, what some people find beautiful is a complete mystery to me. Squat nosed dogs for instance. Or Picasso's silly daubs. 

[Genady]

My guess is that it is a result of evolution by sexual selection. Akin displays some birds make to attract mates.

[sethoflagos]

On 10/16/2023 at 12:20 PM, Genady said:

It is obvious why bees and butterflies are attracted to flowers. But why do humans find flowers attractive?

Maybe we're just drawn by curiosity to things that stand out from the background.

[TheVat]

While some attractions have an explanation in evolutionary biology, I I would think large-brained creatures can like something for aesthetic reasons, like vibrant colors and pleasing patterns and symmetries.  We can enjoy things which we neither eat nor f__, just for our mental stimulation.  

Our cat sometimes comes in and sits on the piano when we play, apparently just enjoying the music.  I can't rule out an EB explanation (e.g. behavior perceived as bonding behavior by the gullible large bipeds may increase probability of free meals and treats) but I also recognize that most higher mammals may engage in behaviors to reduce boredom.  

[Genady]

The hypotheses above may be complementary rather than contrasting because they seem to relate to different aspects of the "four why's of animal behavior" of Nikolaas (Niko) Tinbergen, i.e., causation, development, adaptation, and phylogeny.

[npts2020]

Surprised nobody has mentioned scent as a possible reason. Why is it that most people like the scent of roses? I never wanted to eat one but the smell of cliff roses blooming in the high desert left a pretty strong impression on me.

[TheVat]

14 hours ago, Genady said:

The hypotheses above may be complementary rather than contrasting because they seem to relate to different aspects of the "four why's of animal behavior" of Nikolaas (Niko) Tinbergen, i.e., causation, development, adaptation, and phylogeny.

Yes!  Thanks for mentioning Tinbergen.  His four questions, as they are sometimes called, are so useful that it may be worth posting - this is from Oxford's continuing education site....

The four questions are:

1. Function (or adaption😞 Why is the animal performing the behaviour? In which way does the behaviour increase the animal’s fitness (i.e. its survival and reproduction)? Examples are plentiful and include, among many others, nurturing of young to increase their chance of survival, migration to warmer (and more food rich) habitats, escaping or avoiding attention from predators etc.
2. Evolution (or phylogeny😞 How did the behaviour evolve? How has natural selection modified the behaviour over evolutionary time? This is typically addressed by the comparative approach, where the behaviour in question is compared among closely related species. Examples include how flight in birds may have evolved from gliding in dinosaurs or how the vertebrate and cephalopod eyes have evolved by convergent evolution, with the former having a blind spot, while the latter does not.
3. Causation (or mechanism😞 What causes the behaviour to be performed? Which stimuli elicit or what physiological mechanisms cause the behaviour? Examples include the role of pheromones and hormones, such as increasing testosterone levels (caused by increasing day length) causing male display behaviour in many species of birds, moving shadows causing ragworms to withdraw into their burrows or contrast on beaks causing herring gull chicks to peck.
4. Development (or ontogeny😞 How has the behaviour developed during the lifetime of the individual? In what way has it been influenced by experience and learning? Examples include how courtship behaviour improves with age in many birds and how predators learn to avoid toxic or dangerous prey with experience.

   10 hours ago, npts2020 said:

   Surprised nobody has mentioned scent as a possible reason. Why is it that most people like the scent of roses? I never wanted to eat one but the smell of cliff roses blooming in the high desert left a pretty strong impression on me.

   I wonder if the development (or ontogeny) questions could be applied to our responses to the scent of flowers.  We do come to associate certain positive experiences with nice smelling flowers.

I am perplexed as to why the closing parentheses in my Oxford U quote are showing as sad faces.  Are others seeing this, too?  Is this a SFN glitch encountered before?

Edited March 9 by TheVat
will I ever learn to thumb-type?