From Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons to Justin and Hailey Bieber, many celebrity couples could easily look like siblings.
Now, a study has revealed that this is no coincidence.
Scientists from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have confirmed that women are attracted to men who look like their brothers.
To understand what people look for when evaluating potential partners, experts analyzed the interactions of over 40,000 users on a popular online dating platform.
Using artificial intelligence tools, the researchers were able to measure how similar the users were in both facial features and personality traits.
The results showed that women have a "clear preference" for men who look more like them.
While the reason remains unclear, researchers suggest the "parental investment" theory.
"This suggests that women tend to prioritize cues of trustworthiness and familiarity to reduce the risks of partner choice, where facial similarity may serve as a guide," they explained.
While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, researchers wanted to understand what men and women look for when evaluating potential partners online.
They included 41,441 participants aged 18–47, users of a popular dating app in South Korea.
Using AI, the researchers analyzed a total of 506,014 interactions between these users.
The results showed that when it comes to facial features, women prefer men who look like them.
In contrast, men prefer dissimilar faces – rating women higher when their features are not similar to their own.
"This is consistent with the evolutionary logic of avoiding genetically close relationships," the researchers explained in their study published in Computers in Human Behavior.
"Attraction to different faces may be a mechanism evolved to avoid genetic costs and increase the genetic diversity of offspring."
While regarding personality similarity, socioeconomic status was identified as the most decisive factor.
When personalities matched, women rated high-status men even more positively.
However, men rated high-status women less favorably when their personalities were similar.
According to researchers, this suggests a "status rift."
"Given that the traditional role of the man is related to the provision of resources, the higher status of the partner may signal a deviation from this scenario," they explained.
“In these contexts, the importance of closeness-building traits, such as personality similarity, appears to decrease.”
Looking like your partner is not a new phenomenon; a popular Instagram account is dedicated to just that.
The account @siblingsordating has over a million followers and challenges social media users to find out if couples are blood relatives or lovers.
Some couples share almost identical features, while other photos show family members posing very close to each other, creating a slightly awkward feeling. /GazetaExpress/
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