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Mating
The Science of Attraction
Why do we think some people are attractive and others are not?
Posted August 21, 2014
Have you ever wondered why you find one person attractive and another person not? Two interesting lines of research give some clues:
Dr. Steven Gangestad studied the relationship between symmetry and attractiveness. People whose face and/or body is symmetrical (one side looks like the other side) are found to be more attractive. Symmetry is a sign that DNA is not damaged from oxidative stress.
Claus Wedekind gave women t-shirts to smell that had been worn by men. The women rated the smell of men they liked and didn't like by smelling the t-shirts. Interestingly, the more different DNA was from the woman, the more the woman liked the smell of the t-shirt.
When I first read the book Genome by Matt Ridley, I was struck by the idea that our genes and our DNA were calling the shots—that our DNA is really controlling our behavior. Perhaps it is, and what more important way to influence us than to be involved in who we pass our DNA on to!
If you are interested in learning more you can watch this animated video on the topic of attractiveness that I narrated recently.
What do you think? Do you think our DNA is telling us who to find attractive?