Facial Resemblance in Engaged and Married Couples

Bibliographic Data

ID2931168
AuthorsVerlin B Hinsz (0000-0002-5386-8845, North Dakota State University, corresponding author)
Year1989
Volume6
Issue2
Pages223-229
Publication date1989-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social and Personal Relationships (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0265-4075 • E-ISSN: 1460-3608
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/026540758900600205
OpenAlexW2142949023
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited10

This study investigates the commonsense view that 'people tend to marry people who look like themselves'. Various explanations of the observation of facial resemblance were considered by having younger and older raters judge the degree of facial similarity among pairs of photographs representing either actual couples, or randomly paired same age individuals of the opposite sex. The results suggest that the observation of facial resemblance among couples appears to reflect a real phenomenon. It was observed by both young and old, and in new as well as older marital relationships. The study provided no supportfor environmental co-existence, perceptual bias, or matching hypotheses as explanations for this facial resemblance. However, the results are consistent with an explanation based on the repeated mere exposure hypothesis, suggesting that through repeated exposure to their own face and to the faces of others genetically similar to themselves, individuals develop an attraction to faces similar to their own

Attraction · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Face (sociological concept · Face perception · Matching (statistics · Perception · Phenomenon · Similarity (geometry · Social perception · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub