The science of attraction

　　Callum:  Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Entertainment.

　　Today we're talking about love. Love is one of the strongest emotions there is

　　and that's usually how we think of it, as an emotion. Love is the topic of many

　　many songs, poems, plays, films, paintings, greetings cards, t-shirts. As a

　　famous song says, love is all around us.

　　But, is there more to love than emotion? Have you ever wondered why we are

　　we attracted to some people and not to others? Here's psychologist Dr. Glenn

　　Wilson. What does he think? – Is there a science to love?

　　Dr. Glenn Wilson

　　There certainly is, there are some rules in the sense of scientific rules. One is the 'similarity

　　principle' that other things being equal we like people who are rather similar to ourselves.

　　Callum:  Yes, he does think there are some scientific rules to love and attraction. What is

　　one of the rules he mentions? Listen again.

　　Dr. Glenn Wilson

　　There are some rules in the sense of scientific rules. One is the 'similarity principle' that other

　　things being equal we like people who are rather similar to ourselves.

　　Callum:  Dr. Wilson talks of the 'similarity principle'. The idea that we like people who

　　are similar to ourselves. He goes on to explain more, what particular feature

　　does he say we look for similarity in?

　　Dr. Glenn Wilson

　　Generally speaking we choose the eye colour that is similar to ourselves but we would also go

　　for an eye colour that matches our opposite sex parent more than our same sex parent as

　　though we are using the opposite sex parent as a kind of a blueprint 1 for what it is that will

　　attract us.

　　Callum:  So, apparently 2 eye colour is important too. We choose people with similar eye

　　colours or even people whose eyes are similar to those of our opposite sex

　　parent's. So, in other words, for a woman that's eyes which are similar to her

　　father's and for a man similar to his mother's.

　　That's one of the subconscious 3 rules of attraction. Subconscious – it's not

　　something we think about when we see someone, we don't think – ah ah she's

　　got eyes like mine, I think I love her!

　　So what are some of the other subconscious rules of attraction? Here's Doctor

　　Glenn Wilson again with Chris Evans from BBC Radio. What is the principle

　　that he mentions?

　　Dr. Glenn Wilson

　　There are some principles, symmetry, for example, that is having one of everything down the

　　middle and two of everything down the side, is very important, and if the two sides match

　　each other perfectly 4, if the mirror images would fold over on top perfectly then that person is

　　more likely to be attractive because it implies a healthy development.

　　Callum:  In  that part of the interview he mentioned the principle of symmetry – if the

　　left hand and right hand side of the face are symmetrical, if they are like a

　　mirror image then that makes that person more attractive. Buy why is that?

　　Listen again.

　　Dr. Glenn Wilson

　　that person is more likely to be attractive because it implies a healthy development.

　　Callum:  Having symmetrical features implies a healthy development, a healthy

　　development. This is one of the sub-conscious things which makes us find

　　people attractive. And finding someone who looks healthy is important because

　　subconsciously 5 we are looking for a partner who can produce strong and

　　healthy offspring. Offspring is another word for children and as with animals in

　　the wild our instincts are to mate, to mate, to produce off spring.

　　Something that is often said is that opposites attract. It's certainly true for

　　magnets, but what about people? In the next section from the interview with Dr.

　　Wilson he talks about pheromones and the immune system. Pheromones are

　　chemicals which humans and animals produce. These chemicals can't be smelt 6,

　　but they are detected by others and can affect the way they behave. The

　　immune system is part of the body's natural defences. It's the system that fights

　　off diseases.

　　So Dr. Wilson, is there any truth to the belief that opposites attract?

　　Dr. Glenn Wilson

　　There's not much truth in it, beyond the idea of the gender 7 opposite. But there's one other

　　interesting finding which is we seem to be able to detect by smell or pheromones a person

　　who has a different immune system from ourselves such as when we mate with them our

　　offspring will be given a broadened immune spectrum 8.

　　Callum:  So, Dr. Wilson says there is not much truth in the saying that opposites attract,

　　except in the basic idea of being attracted to someone from the opposite sex,

　　although that is not true for everybody.

　　However he does say that through the action of pheromones or smells we are

　　able to detect people who have a different immune system. This will be good

　　for any offspring because it means they will have the benefit of two different

　　immune systems and should grow up stronger and more able to fight disease.

　　So, there we have it. Love is a powerful emotion but there is a lot of science

　　behind it and a lot of the attraction we might feel for someone is based on

　　things happening in our subconscious. That's what I call romance.