Everyone has probably thought at some point when looking at a couple that one of them is much more attractive than the other. But why are some couples so unequally attractive? According to scientists, there is a clear reason for this.
Most people choose a partner who is about as attractive as they are. It is therefore hardly surprising that particularly beautiful people also have a particularly good-looking partner at their side. And less good-looking people are often with less attractive people. But there are also couples in which one of the two is much more attractive than the other. According to scientists at the University of Texas at Austin and Northwestern University, there is a very specific reason for this phenomenon.
In the study, which was published in the journal Psychological Science, the researchers asked 167 couples how they met. The scientists also had objective observers rate the attractiveness of each person. It was initially clear that people look for partners who are roughly equally attractive.
Friendship more important than attractiveness
But there were also exceptional couples, and here the researchers discovered something surprising: the couples who had known each other and were friends long before the relationship often differed greatly in their level of attractiveness.
In concrete terms, this means that the longer a couple is friends before they enter into a relationship, the more likely it is that one of them will be more attractive.
But why? Scientists explain this fact by saying that attractiveness takes a back seat when a friendship develops into a relationship. A strong interpersonal bond is much more important than superficial factors such as appearance.
