If you have thought that your grandparents look like one another, you may be right. But the idea that two people in a long relationship begin to look alike may be an enduring one, but new research suggests it’s simply not true.
A team at Stanford used photos of 517 couples in a new study, comparing images from when they first got together with those from much later on, between 20 and 69 years later. More precisely, they had volunteers assess the photos, as well as facial-recognition software. The result? Zero evidence that the couples changed to resemble each other.
The research debunks a widely cited study from the 1980s, though one that was based on just a dozen couples. Over the years, psychologists have generally backed up the assertion, arguing that everything from a shared diet to the amount of time spent outdoors were factors. But it’s just not true. So how do you explain your grandparents resembling one another? Turns out they started out that way. The study found that people were more likely to bear a resemblance to their significant others-compared to random people at the start of their relationships. The researchers’ conclusion is that people tend to choose partners who look like them, to begin with.
Source: Science Times
