Attraction, like romantic love, works in mysterious ways.
While we’d like to think that we know why a particular person catches our eye, there are a number of invisible forces at work in determine which members of the opposite sex we become interested in — and which ones we don’t.
Of course, there are a number of factors that go into who we choose to be with, including personality traits, interests and values and physical appearance. But when it comes to immediate, knee-jerk physical attraction, we often can’t pinpoint why exactly we’re drawn to someone. Even as scientific research has shed more light on the factors that contribute to our selection of a sexual mate, the biology of attraction is complex and not yet fully understood — and it doesn’t help that attraction is particularly difficult to replicate in a lab.
So what really is happening when the sight of a hot guy or girl makes us instantly swoon? Human biology and evolutionary psychology has some answers.
Here are some of the subtle but powerful factors that may help determine who we’re attracted to.
–
While there is something of a science to the romantic and sexual partners we choose, at the end of the day, attraction is still completely unique to each of our individuals makeups and preferences.
Anthropologist Helen Fisher, who has studied love and dating extensively, explains that we each have individual “love maps” that determine who we gravitate towards.
“These love maps vary from one individual to the next. Some people get turned on by a business suit or a doctor’s uniform, by big breasts, small feet, or a vivacious laugh,” Fisher writes in Psychology Today, adding, “But averageness still wins.”
Fisher cites a study in which participants selected faces of 32 women, and used a computer program to make their features look more average. Then, they showed these photos as well as 94 photos of real female faces to a group of college students. Only four of the photographs of real female faces were rated as more attractive than the “averaged” faces.
As Fisher suggests, while individuals and cultures have their own standards for what they consider attractive, there are some fairly universal qualities that we all look for, including a clear complexion, symmetrical faces, wide hips (for women), and a general appearance of health and cleanliness.
