Scientists debunk ‘opposites attract’ theory
July 11th, 2011 - 5:52 pm ICT by IANSLondon, July 11 (IANS) The popular theory that opposites attract in matters of love doesn’t hold true, going by what scientists suggest.
Researchers at University of California, Berkeley, found that people are drawn to potential partners if they are of their own or similar league and desirability.
Personality traits and common interests do play a part but for that instant attraction, like is drawn towards like. Study authors turned to online dating sites, measuring the popularity of more than 3,000 heterosexual users of a site.
Popularity was defined by the number of opposite-sex individuals who had sent unsolicited messages to a user. Analyses indicated that high-popularity users contacted other popular users at a rate greater than would be expected by chance, the Daily Mail reports.
Similarly, the less popular users of the site also contacted other low-popularity users. The researchers then conducted a follow-up study of more than a million users and found a similar result - when it comes to dating, potential mates stick to someone in their own league.
“Individuals on the dating market will assess their own self-worth and select partners whose social desirability approximately equals their own,” the researchers said in a statement.
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Tags: common interests, daily mail, dating sites, heterosexual, london, love, mates, personality traits, potential partners, scientists, select partners, sex individuals, site popularity, social desirability, study authors, university of california, university of california berkeley, unsolicited messages