Concept of similarity in romantic attraction
Birds of a feather flock together. —A proverb The starling went to the raven, because it is of its kind. —Baba Kama, The Mishna Similarity or Complementarity? Once upon a time, John met Jenny. They fell in love. They married, had children and presumably will live happily ever after. This is a common love story, and leads us to wonder why people become attracted to each other. Traditional research (Byrne) has shown that people are attracted to those immediately similar to them and this could lead to marriage. However, arguments for complementarity contend that opposites do indeed attract, and this attraction would also lead to long-term relationship and marriage. Such views are further reinforced by research like that of Shiota and Levenson, which suggest that complementary couples are more satisfied in the long run. Whilst there are many theories given on the process of mate selection, of particular interest is the recent emergence of the popular notion that ‘opposites attract’. Howeve...