Science Says People are Attracted to Partners Who Look Like Them

Highlights:

A recent study shows that people are more attracted to people who look like them
People are also attracted to people of the same ethnicity as they feel a sense of comfort and kinship //
The concept of speed dating used by this study overcomes the challenges faced by other studies that used images

It might be weird to think that you would want to date someone who looks like you right? Some might say it’s a bit narcissistic, even. Opposites attract but only when it comes to personality. Turns out that researchers at the University of Queensland have found that people are more attracted to partners who look like them.

Amy Zhao, a Ph.D. student at UQ's School of Psychology, led the study involving hundreds of heterosexual volunteers during short speed-dating sessions.

The study, published in Evolution and Human Behavior, is a cooperation between researchers from UQ's School of Psychology's Center for Psychology and Evolution and those from the University of Stirling ().

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‘Are we more attracted to people who look like us? Yes, says science. #dating #relationships’

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"Our experiment consisted of 682 participants and 2,285 speed-dating interactions where participants of the opposite sex interacted for 3 minutes at a time," Zhao said. "After each interaction participants rated each other on facial attractiveness, kindness, and understanding.”

"We then analyzed their facial images to calculate facial masculinity, averageness, and similarity between interaction partners."

Almost half of the interactions were with partners of the same ethnicity and the other half with partners of different ethnicities.

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"We found that participants rated partners who had geometrically average faces and faces similar to their own as more attractive," Zhao said.

"Participants also received higher facial attractiveness ratings from partners of the same ethnicity, compared to those from a different ethnicity.”

"Interestingly, people with similar facial features rated each other as appearing more kind, regardless of ethnicity."

Zhao states that this is the first study to use face-to-face encounters in which participants rate one other.

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"These findings address major limitations in past studies which involved participants rating a series of photographs or computer-generated faces," she said.

"Our findings suggest that faces that look similar spark a sense of kinship, causing people to feel comfort, familiarity, and belonging with those who look like them.”

"Better understanding of how people rate attractiveness, could assist with dating and forming romantic relationships."

Reference:

Objectively measured facial traits predict in-person evaluations of facial attractiveness and prosociality in speed-dating partners - (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S109051382300051X)

Source-Medindia

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