Men tend to wind up with
life partners who look like their mother, while a woman is lured to
a partner who looks like her father, scientists
reported on Wednesday.
Heterosexuals are deeply
attracted to individuals whose faces are similar to that of their
opposite-sex parent, they said, suggesting that this characteristic
is rooted in an evolutionary drive.
A team led by Tamas Bereczkei at the University of Pecs in
Hungary created a model of facial ratios -- width of jaw, distance
between mouth and brow and so on -- comprising 14 facial zones.
They measured 312 Hungarian adults from 52 different families
using this method. Each family included a couple, along with two
sets of parents.
The researchers found a significant correlation in
facial similarities between a woman's mate and her father, and also
between a man's partner and his mother.
The team tested the model on faces that were randomly selected
from the general population and repeated the experiment with a
panel of judges, who also picked out the same pairings from
randomly selected groups of photos.
Interestingly, men and women focused on different parts
of the face when they home in on a potential mate, they
found.
A man's lover and his mother tended to have similar
fullness in the lips, width of mouth, as well as length and width
of jaw.
But for women, the critical features were the distance
between mouth and brow, the height of the face, distance between
the eyes and the size of a man's nose.
The choices are driven less by psychology and socialisation
and more by evolutionary pressures, suggests Bereczkei.
Too much genetic overlap -- as can happen with incest -- is an
evolutionary no-no.
But seeking similar genetic traits "may confer individuals with
additional adaptive advantages," he wrote.
It could
increase the degree to which parents share genes with offspring,
enhancing the genetic representation of future
generations.
Finding similar partners might also help perpetuate genetic
complexes that have evolved to adapt to a particular
environment.
There may be an additional bonus, which probably has more to
do with happiness than a genetic imperative.
"Human couples who are
similar in physical and psychological characteristics are more
likely to remain together than dissimilar partners, possibly
leading to an increase in fertility," the study
concludes.
The research appears in the journal Proceedings of the Royal
Society B. The Royal Society is Britain's de-facto academy of
sciences.
http://news.sg.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1658452
i dun agree with this, then how do you explain interracial
marriages. But I do believe in the qualities, that one is attracted
to a partner who has favorable qualities similar to parent of
opposite sex. seems to be that way for my hubby and i