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Ceterus paribis, (all other things being equal, for example IQ, social status, money, ethnicity, religion, etc), do you think it is more common to find relationships where both members in a relationship share the same level of psysical attractiveness level?
And if so, what would be the reason? Genetics, like they just feel attracted to partners that share their same biologic makeup, for example in face symmetry? or socio/psychological factors , for example, an ugly guy would not date a pretty woman because he thought she sooner or later would cheat on him?
Well, yeah. It's one of those human nature things that we tend to befriend and feel intimate attraction towards those who are most "on our level".
For someone who likes to ponder social psychological questions so much, it would behoove you to just purchase an intro to psychology textbook and flip through it. There's no need to make up our own answers to these kinds of questions when the answers are readily available because a lot of this stuff has been studied and figured out already. And that's not a knock on you, OP, just a friendly suggestion that I think will satiate your curiosity.
Well, yeah. It's one of those human nature things that we tend to befriend and feel intimate attraction towards those who are most "on our level".
For someone who likes to ponder social psychological questions so much, it would behoove you to just purchase an intro to psychology textbook and flip through it. There's no need to make up our own answers to these kinds of questions when the answers are readily available because a lot of this stuff has been studied and figured out already. And that's not a knock on you, OP, just a friendly suggestion that I think will satiate your curiosity.
So what exactly should people ask on a psychology forum?
I'm not Queen of the Threads, so I don't have any say in the matter and I don't want to get off-topic. It was just a friendly suggestion for your questions that have very open-and-shut answers (in contrast to questions like the one about what goes on in the minds of people who leave their shopping carts anywhere they please).
But hey, back to the the thread topic. As you'll learn if you do choose to pick up a psychology textbook, three principles of attraction are proximity, similarity, and reciprocity. Similarity is the one that you're talking about.
I think if you want to be very general, you can apply basic economics to search for partners. Market forces are at work. People in general will go for the most attractive partners they can get, and a big part of what determine what they can "get" is their own attractiveness.
So if you think of people, broadly, on that scale of 1-10 with regard to looks, it usually goes like this.
Most people in the 1-10 categories are attracted to the empirical 10s. But since the 10s are usually only attracted to other 10s, that weeds the 10s out of the market for 1s through 9s.
Then you have a bunch of people of all levels feeling attracted to those 9s. But the 9s will mostly only be drawn to 10s and other 9s. So that removes the 9s from the market for the 1s through 8s.
And so on.
We'll always have those odd folks who are empirically a 3 or 4 but who think they must have a 9 or 10, but most people figure out over time where they fall on the scale, and go after partners in the same range.
Again, this is being very general. And even if you hypothesize saying "all other things being equal" all other things are never equal (thank God) because we all have much more to us than physical appearance. Someone can be an empirical 5 with regard to looks, but they might get a boost from being very witty, very successful, very famous, etc. Someone might be empirically a 10 on looks, but their personality could be totally terrible, and after a time, the other 10s will stay away.
I'm not Queen of the Threads, so I don't have any say in the matter and I don't want to get off-topic. It was just a friendly suggestion for your questions that have very open-and-shut answers (in contrast to questions like the one about what goes on in the minds of people who leave their shopping carts anywhere they please).
But hey, back to the the thread topic. As you'll learn if you do choose to pick up a psychology textbook, three principles of attraction are proximity, similarity, and reciprocity. Similarity is the one that you're talking about.
Yeah, I could read a book and get a standard academic definition, read some case studies and see some graphs. In fact, I've done it many times.
Or I could check the answers of a wide range of forumites to see what their opinion on the subject is, which comes from real life experience.
Both paths are not mutually exclusive.
But thanks for your advice.
By the way, things are not as open-and-shut as they might look. The rules of attraction are proximity, similarity and reciprocity. How can we tell the difference between sorting and peer effects? It's like deciding what was first, the chicken or the egg.
Well, yeah. It's one of those human nature things that we tend to befriend and feel intimate attraction towards those who are most "on our level".
For someone who likes to ponder social psychological questions so much, it would behoove you to just purchase an intro to psychology textbook and flip through it. There's no need to make up our own answers to these kinds of questions when the answers are readily available because a lot of this stuff has been studied and figured out already. And that's not a knock on you, OP, just a friendly suggestion that I think will satiate your curiosity.
What is a book that you suggest?
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