Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2019 September 5

= September 5 =

People who look alike
Hello. Has any research ever been conducted on whether people who look alike also tend to share physical preferences in sexual partners? I.e., if Peter and Paul have similar looks, are they both likely to be interested in, say, girls with round faces? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.76.180.82 (talk) 09:18, 5 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I've found quite a lot of articles about the fact that people prefer partners that look like them and/or their parents. I'd assume that the fact that both Peter and Paul (who have similar looks) are looking for a partner that looks similar to them ensures that they end up with two partners who also resemble each other somewhat.
 * https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-mysteries-love/201505/are-we-attracted-people-who-look-us


 * https://theconversation.com/why-we-are-secretly-attracted-to-people-who-look-like-our-parents-54590


 * https://time.com/5553817/couples-who-look-alike/


 * https://www.mic.com/articles/111010/there-s-a-disturbing-fact-about-the-people-we-choose-to-be-with


 * https://citizen.co.za/lifestyle/fitness-and-health-your-life-your-life/1609256/why-we-pick-the-partners-we-do/


 * https://www.lehmiller.com/blog/2012/11/7/why-do-romantic-partners-tend-to-look-alike.html


 * https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4011637/ Poveglia (talk) 05:50, 6 September 2019 (UTC)


 * The last paper is comparing and contrasting views of physical attractiveness between men and women. It loosely claims that men primarily care only about physical attractiveness, but women focus more on things like money and stability. To be more exact, it says that men are happier in relationships with an attractive spouse, but women are happier in a stable household. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 14:43, 6 September 2019 (UTC)
 * It should be self-evident that culturally specific sexual attractiveness is very important to young heterosexual males. But it is not the only factor but rather one among many, especially when making long-term decisions. I am celebrating today my 38th wedding anniversary and I chose my spouse mostly on factors like kindness, compassion, willingness to compromise and the potential to be a loving partner and mother and grandmother for many years to come. Of course, attractiveness was one among many factors. And that is exactly how it has worked out. Cullen328  Let's discuss it  07:16, 7 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Genetic sexual attraction, the idea that related individuals who meet as adults may develop a strong sexual attraction for each other perhaps because they did not experience the Westermarck effect may be of interest. Although per our article it's not that well supported. (Notably while maybe not of great relevance to the original question, there seems to be some evidence people prefer partners with dissimilar MHC, see Major histocompatibility complex and sexual selection which is more likely to arise if people are genetically dissimilar. While if this preference does exist, it may come from body ordours and so maybe not something which would normally be called physically attractiveness, it does suggest any attraction for genetic similarity is likely to be complicated.) Both articles do mention some evidence with sources (I think some different from above) that on average people tend to select mates who look more like them or their parents. The first article also mentions dispute over the relative contributions of genes and childhood imprinting for this preference. Nil Einne (talk) 11:23, 7 September 2019 (UTC)


 * I cannot provide a reference, it is all from memory but I recall an experiment was conducted on doves that showed that the birds select mates from s small pool of second cousins. AboutFace 22 (talk) 15:38, 8 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Most of my entire race looks enough like mom to give me incest feelings, and I had an old mother, how am I going to find literal relatives hot just cause we didn't grow up together? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 03:38, 9 September 2019 (UTC)


 * If you never knew your mother, then looking like her wouldn't be creepy, would it ? SinisterLefty (talk) 03:41, 9 September 2019 (UTC)