Turns out the old "opposites attract" adage - isn't really true!
Just ask any guy I've ever dated.
Hey guys Tara here for Dnews - with new evidence to support the idea that opposites really
don't attract.
Psychologically speaking, the adage is considered a myth - since people are generally more attracted
to those who share their personality traits and beliefs.
Biologically, however, spousal mating has always been considered to be pretty random.
Until now.
Researchers at the University of California studied the genomes of 825 heterosexual married
couples, and found that spouses in those relationships, shared more genetic similarities than random
pairs from the same population.
Not only that, but couples who share an increase in genetic similarity by at least one standard
deviation - are 15% more likely to get married.
This is a widely known phenomenon called Assortative Mating, and it applies not just to our genes,
but also to our behaviors and physical appearances.
A good example would be how people tend to date others who have similar body types to
them.
It's not really clear WHY this happens.
But the researchers in this study chalked it up to 3 possible explanations: Birth region,
ethnicity, and education.
It's been shown that people born in the same geographical area, are more likely to marry
and share genetic markers.
Which extends to ethnicities as well.
But even after controlling for those factors, they still found a high amount of genetic
similarities between couples.
So they looked at education.
It's generally known that people with similar educational backgrounds tend to marry each
other - that's called Educational Assortative Mating.
And studies have proven that education level is at least partially tied to your genetic
make-up, so it makes sense that people with similar educations would be more genetically
similar.
Sure enough, the authors crunched some numbers - and discovered that education accounted
for up to two thirds of that 15% increase in genetic similarity - though it's unclear
which one influences the other.
How do you guys feel about this?
Obviously there are exceptions to every rule, but do you tend to go for people who are similar
to you, or people who are very different?
Let us know in the comments down below, and as always - thank you guys for watching!