Is This What the 'Average Woman' from Around The World Looks Like?
Compiled by overlaying portraits of women’s faces over each other, psychologists at the University of Glasgow released their experiment in the hopes of shedding what the average women given nationality and particular ethnicity would look like.
By Sadho Ram — 30 Sep 2013, 02:53 AM — Updated over 10 years ago
Scientists blend thousands of faces together to reveal what the typical woman's face looks like in 41 different countries from around the world
A new project has created an unexpectingtly beguiling reflection of what Mrs Average face looks like out of 41 chosen nations. The project first released in 2011 has once again drawn debate as to the accuracy and meaning of the study
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They were created by scientists, who used hundreds of pictures of women from all over the world. Experimental psychologists at the University of Glasgow photographed women from 41 different nationalities and ethnicities for the experiment.
dailymail.co.ukThe face of the average woman from a variety of countries including England, China and Central Africa has been deduced by scientists
Using a modern version of the technique pioneered in the late 19th century, multiple images were carefully laid over one another using a computer technology
Using the eyes of the women as a focus, it then worked out the average look of each woman from every region but analysing their faces.
dailymail.co.uk
The average South African, for example, should not be pale-skinned as only 9.2 per cent of the population define themselves as white.
Image via dailymail.co.ukThe method - called 'composite portraiture' - and was first used in the 1880s by Sir Francis Galton.
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The social scientist and cousin of Charles Darwin first created the image of the average face by superimposing multiple portraits of individuals.
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The technique has been used ever since, particularly in the study of 'attractiveness' - which studies people's perception of beauty. However, the results have attracted some controversy - with many saying the results do not reflect reality.
While many agree that it does make sense the women are all pretty - because averages rule out blemishes - many are perplexed that the women all seem to be in her early twenties - not the average age of any nationality.
dailymail.co.ukThose behind the project say that many of the criticisms are explained by the process.
Instead of having a lot of blurry images with undefined features, they say the method averages the shape of the features before blending the images together.
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Hundreds of images of women's faces were laid on top of each other before a computer programme created the average around a focal point of their eyes
The project was inspired by the work of South African photographer Mike Mike - who created a web project several years ago called The Face of Tomorrow
The project saw the photographer compile a collection of people's faces from various cities for a final project while he was studying at Goldsmith's University in London.
dailymail.co.ukHe said: 'Sitting on the underground train, I was intrigued by the sheer diversity of the place – Somalis, Indians, Americans, Zimbabweans, Scandinavians and a hundred other nationalities vying for their place in the metropolis.
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'I thought: “What is this place, what is a Londoner?”
'I thought if one could merge all the people in a place like London one would be looking at the future of that place – one would have some notion of what a Londoner is or will become.'
Those behind the project say that the method averages the shape of the features before blending the images together - hence why there are no blemishes or imperfections
Some have been critical of the average images, questioning that why they do not reflect any age range within a country?
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