LOVEBIRDS are more attracted to people that look like themselves, a study shows.
Australian psychologists found you’re more likely to end up with someone with shared facial features because they seem more kind.
Corbis – GettyA study of more than 680 people on speed dates found they rated people that looked more like themselves as more attractive[/caption]
Similar appearances also make potential partners feel more dependable and honest, they said.
Amy Zhao, of the University of Queensland, said: “We found that facial similarity influenced attractiveness.
“People may seek facially similar romantic partners, as they are perceived as more kind, understanding and trustworthy.”
Previous research has shown people rate pictures of their partner’s face that have been altered to include some of their own features as more attractive.
Experts said people may prefer people that share similar appearances because their features are more familiar.
The latest study, published in the Elsevier journal Evolution and Human Behavior, looked at 682 adults’ preferences when speed-dating.
They were put on a total of 2,285 three-minute dates and asked how attractive and kind they felt their prospective partners were based on their faces.
Facial similarity was measured using photographs, which were marked up to compare positioning and size of the eyes, ears, nose and other features.
People rated others as more attractive if their features were more similar to their own, results showed.
Participants also received higher facial attractiveness ratings from partners of the same ethnicity, compared to those from a different ethnicity.
Those with similar faces also scored higher for kindness.
Ms Zhao said: ““These findings address major limitations in past studies which involved participants rating a series of photographs or computer-generated faces.
“It was not clear that findings from those studies would generalise to real life interactions where people are moving, talking and changing facial expressions.”