Political Parallelism
Think it was his clever sense of humor or killer pot roast that had you falling for him? Turns out, it probably had more to do with his voting history. A recent Rice University study published in the Journal of Politics found that we tend to choose partners with similar political views — in fact, couples who swing the same way politically outnumbered those with similar personality traits, appearances, and religious beliefs. And that makes sense, says Dr. Grossman: “It would be hard to have a relationship long-term with someone with a dramatically different political view. It’s a different value set, which goes to our core.”
Your Zip Code
No one likes long-distance relationships — but that has little to do with why someone's address impacts whether you'll be romantically attracted to them. Instead, it has to do with cultural values: If you're raised in one place, your idea of attractiveness may be completely different than that of someone raised somewhere else.
In fact, a study published in the journal Psychological Science found that men who live in cultures where food and money are scarce tend to find heavier women more attractive than thinner ones. These men may see the extra pounds as a status symbol; a buxom figure signals having the means to purchase plenty of food. Given these findings, it's not surprising that super-skinny people are idealized in places where there are plenty of resources to go around.
In this special Valentine's Day episode of Women of Impact with Lisa Bilyeu, she and special guests Steph Purpura and Emily Morse get real about relationships.
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Mirror Images
Opposites may attract, but that doesn't mean they're a match made in heaven. In fact, recent research has helped explained the phenomenon of doppelganger couples. While participants in a Canadian study were less likely to choose people with similar-looking faces for a short-term relationship, they were more trusting of people with faces that resembled their own — and therefore more likely to end up with them in the long term.
The researchers theorize that this response evolved to prevent accidentally becoming sexually attracted to relatives, while at the same time guiding us to fall in love with long-term mates who are reasonably similar to us. "We do not want to date relatives, but we do trust people who are similar to us," Grossman says. Now we realize the whole 'opposites attract' thing is lust.. Most opposites don't stay together long-term."
The Number of Candles on the Cake
We’ve become a culture that’s obsessed with defying age — and research may help prove why: A study from the journal Current Anthropology found that men from five different cultures showed a preference for females with youthful features like large eyes, a small nose, and full lips. Don’t be too quick to write these men off as pigs, however: These findings show that we subconsciously seek out partners who are most likely to be able to reproduce. And though the study didn’t examine women’s preferences, Grossman is willing to bet that females have similar penchants for younger-looking partners.
But Grossman warns that physical attraction doesn’t always add up to a healthy relationship. Though a 65-year-old man might find a 20-year-old woman attractive, they’re probably not a great match. “A more than 25- or 30-year difference is always difficult to overcome,” he says.