TY - JOUR
T1 - Assortative mating for perceived facial personality traits
AU - Little, Anthony C.
AU - Burt, D. Michael
AU - Perrett, David I.
PY - 2006/4
Y1 - 2006/4
N2 - The widespread belief that partners look alike has received some empirical support. Here we examine some perceptual characteristics of faces that may account for this similarity. Across two studies judges rated perceived age, attractiveness, and five personality traits of married individuals' faces. Correlations showed that perceived age, attractiveness and some personality traits were similar between partners and that matching for perceived personality occurred even when controlling for age and attractiveness of the faces. This finding may reflect individuals choosing partners who physically resemble themselves or partners who appear to have similar personalities to themselves. Analysis also showed that couples that had been together longer looked more similar in perceived personality traits, which may reflect couples growing more similar in apparent personality over time or that those appearing alike in personality stay together longer.
AB - The widespread belief that partners look alike has received some empirical support. Here we examine some perceptual characteristics of faces that may account for this similarity. Across two studies judges rated perceived age, attractiveness, and five personality traits of married individuals' faces. Correlations showed that perceived age, attractiveness and some personality traits were similar between partners and that matching for perceived personality occurred even when controlling for age and attractiveness of the faces. This finding may reflect individuals choosing partners who physically resemble themselves or partners who appear to have similar personalities to themselves. Analysis also showed that couples that had been together longer looked more similar in perceived personality traits, which may reflect couples growing more similar in apparent personality over time or that those appearing alike in personality stay together longer.
KW - Assortative mating
KW - Facial characteristics
KW - Partner similarity
KW - Personality attribution
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=30944434418&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.09.016
U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2005.09.016
DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2005.09.016
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:30944434418
SN - 0191-8869
VL - 40
SP - 973
EP - 984
JO - Personality and Individual Differences
JF - Personality and Individual Differences
IS - 5
ER -