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Opposites ‘do not attract’

The old adage that opposites attract has been debunked by US scientists.

They found that people tend to choose partners who are similar - or at least who they think are similar - to themselves, both in looks and attitude.

Previous research has concluded that people prefer mates with qualities they think will be good at bringing up children - including financial solvency.

However the study, by a team from Cornell University in New York, suggests this is not necessarily the case, and that similar individuals tend to be attracted to each other because they are most likely to hold down a stable relationship.

The findings are based on questionnaires filled out by 978 college-aged men and women.

First, respondents rated the importance of various attributes in a long-term partner.

The attributes were grouped into four categories:

* wealth and status

* family commitment

* physical appearance

* sexual fidelity

Next, the respondents rated perceptions of themselves on those same attributes.

The results showed that if people rated a particular attribute as important in a partner, they were likely to give themselves a high rating for the same attribute.

Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers Peter Buston and Stephen Emlen said their findings strongly suggested that a person’s self-perception governed what they looked for in a mate.

“Individuals who had a high self-perception of themselves were more discriminating in their mate preferences than were individuals with lower self-perception scores.

“Our results suggest that individuals seeking stable long-term relationships should not seek the highest quality partner available but should simply look for partners who are similar to themselves.”

The research also found particularly strong evidence that women who thought they were physically attractive tended to go for men who were wealthy, or high status.

Conversely, men who thought they were successful tended to go for good-looking women. —BBC

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