Physical attractiveness, sense of humor, intelligence, interests … But not only these features make two people connect love. Biology plays a large role, it largely determines how we pair up. What else determines the choice of a partner?

How do we pair up? What doeschoose a partner ? What makesloveappear? Flushing on the face, "butterflies" in the stomach or love "lightning" is what we most often associate with the feeling of falling in love. But there are many factors that decide whether a potential candidate for a partner will actually become one. In the race for the ideal, both the evolutionary legacy and the psychological aspects play a significant role. So what is the power of attraction?

Choosing a partner - important first impression

Matching rules are science. At the heart of evolutionary theories of natural selection is nothing more than reproductive success. According to scientists, we choose a partner who will give us a good chance to give birth to he althy offspring. And there are several distinguishing features about it. Attractiveness Dawid M. Buss, psychologist, author of the book "The Evolution of Desire. How Do People Match Couples?", Argues that we do not choose partners at random, but it is guided by acquiring "the right person". The scientist conducted research on the strategy of selecting a partner. 10 thousand people took part in them. people from all major races and ethnicities. It turned out that we all have the same preferences.

When looking for a candidate for a father, women pay attention to mature men, on average 2 - 5 years older than them. They do not have to be particularly handsome, although their appearance must inspire confidence. A good financial situation is also important, in order to ensure stability and security for the family.

The expectations of men are different: a woman should be fertile, and this is determined by her young age and proportional figure, more precisely narrow waist and wide hips (the ideal waist-to-hip ratio is 0.7). A he althy look is also important: clean skin, shiny eyes and hair, full lips. The face and silhouette should be symmetrical.

A smell can decide about love

When looking for an ideal, we first look at a pretty face and shapely figure. But as it turns out, looks aren't enough. Research conducted several years ago proves thatthe best part can be found by the scent.

In the nasal septum there is an extremely sensitive nose-nose organ, which allows us to receive non-verbal signals from the opposite sex and is responsible for our sexual reactions. This organ is stimulated by pheromones, while activating the hypothalamus - and this is where the interest in a partner is born. Interestingly, by smell, we choose partners whose genome differs from ours in a fragment of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). And the differences in this area give us a chance to father he althy children, because our DNA damage is compensated by our partner's genes, which strengthens the immune system of our common descendants.

Looking only at the outward appearance, we choose partners with a similar set of genes in the MHC area. So the fragrance is a better advisor. But the smell is natural of e.g. sweat. The use of cosmetics and birth control pills changes preferences.

Partner selection and cycle phases

Scientists have shown that women, during ovulation, usually choose strong, dominant men more often, which the researchers explain by the desire to provide their offspring with the best genes. On infertile days, gentle and caring men are more attractive to women, who are theoretically supposed to be better carers for children. There are also other regularities associated with the phases of the cycle. A team of scientists from the University of California analyzed the behavior of a large number of women aged 18-37. It turned out that on fertile days, ladies wear sexier and more revealing clothes and wear more jewelry. This rule also applies to women in long-term relationships who also subconsciously want to attract the attention of men. Women "demonstrating" their fertility gain the interest of men by about 60 percent. more often than the others.

More on this topic: Love alchemy, or what happens when we fall in love?

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