"It could be due to a slight overdose of winter romantic comedies or standing under the mistletoe for too long, but we might be tempted to imagine that the next party we attend is going to turn into a perfect scene right out of a rom-com: you reach for a drink and accidentally touch the hand of a charming stranger. Your eyes meet, and the magic happens. Right on time for Valentine's Day!"
"But is the way people attract each other so mysterious in the first place? As a human being dealing with the challenges of dating, and a researcher in psychology, I was curious what science has to say about that. Dr. Matthew Montoya from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill defines attraction as " an attitude that includes the affective and behavioral responses toward the target person." Something along the lines of: "I like you" (affect), and "I want to meet you again" (behavior)."
Attraction consists of affective and behavioral responses toward a target person, including liking and desire to meet again. Seasonal cues and media can bias perceptions toward romanticized encounters. Contrary to the opposites-attract notion, people display strong preferences for partners similar in age, occupation, religion, values, and musical taste. Personality traits of potential partners influence physical attraction. Shared characteristics increase mutual attraction and relationship formation. Physiological synchrony between people—timing and alignment of bodily responses—emerges as a robust predictor of attraction. Understanding these factors clarifies which cues reliably signal potential romantic interest.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]