What influences our choice of a romantic partner?
One important factor is proximity or nearness.
Although we are sometimes “swept off our feet” by a stranger,
we usually select mates from the group of people with whom we are familiar
such as the people we associate with at school, on the job, or in our communities.
Another factor is similarity.
The proverb “opposites attract” may sometimes seem true in terms of surface personality traits
but it rarely holds true at a deeper level.
People generally choose mates who are similar to them on a variety of dimensions
including physical characteristics such as height, weight, and race
as well as education, intelligence, and religious and political attitudes.
But we can’t overlook the importance of physical attractiveness.
Good-looking people (as defined within each society) have an advantage, at least in the early stages of a relationship.
One study matched college students with attractive or unattractive “blind dates”
both males and females paired with attractive dates
reported liking their dates more than those paired with unattractive dates.
Though we may prefer to date someone who is very attractive
in the end we generally choose mates who are similar to us in physical attractiveness.