Newsgroups: bit.listserv.psycgrad
Date:         Mon, 25 Jan 1993 22:19:43 -0800
              <PSYCGRAD@UOTTAWA.BITNET>
From:         Tor Neilands <tbn@UTXVM.CC.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Attractiveness

Matthew Prull writes:

>Tor Neilands writes:
>
>>I think the last point raised about "couples who look like one another" is
>>an interesting phenomenon---one has to wonder how much of that happens from
>>similar others getting together (folks of similar attractiveness levels)
>>vs. two people getting together and changing each other such that they
>>become more similar to each other over time? Is it the chicken or the egg?
>
>You know, I could swear that Robert Zajonc did some research on this
>on this a while back.  I'm pretty sure that he generally found that
>couples that have lived together for many years, like 30-40 or so,
>begin to resemble each other facially.  That is, their faces change
>over time so that they begin to resemble each other.  Don't ask me
>what the reference is, it's been a while since I looked at that one!
>
>If we can say that this is true, how can we explain it?  Seems to me
>that when someone is deeply enamored or attached to a significant
>other in their life they tend to imitate that person in various ways.
>Every once in a while I catch myself talking like my girlfriend, using
>some idiosyncratic verbal inflections or whatever.  Basically,
>sometimes I sound like her.  I've even temporarily adopted some
>mannerisms exhibited by those professors whom I respect and admire.
>Anyway, maybe it's possible that when two people who are emotionally
>attached to each other for a long period of time and unconsciously
>imitate each other for years and years simply are using the same
>facial muscles, and, subsequently, begin to resemble each other
>because they act alike.  ???  This is a stretch, but it does pose some
>interesting thoughts.
>
>Matthew Prull
>prullm@cgsvax.claremont.edu

Exactly! And pet owners and their pets, too! Seriously, you've mirrored
what I've been thinking on this subject. I used to be reasonably tight with
an attractiveness researcher here, and once I asked her, "Hey, you guys
keep talking about genetic influences on attractiveness and basic
preferences for certain types of individuals (e.g., average faces), but
what about environmental, *non-social* factors?" Like the person whose face
is in a frown so much of the time that by the time s/he gets to be 60 there
are deep frown lines embedded---and can the muscles working and re-working
over and over again influence the underlying bone structure just enough to
produce a "set face"--or at the least the muscle might develop certain
habitual tense areas--and I bet couples share facial expressions, too, not
just verbal expressions and that might explain some of the
phenomenon...hmmm...interesting! Thanks for the provoking thoughts!

cheers,

Tor

Tor Neilands                            Computation Center
Systems Analyst                      University of Texas at Austin
Statistical Services Group        Internet: TBN@Utxvm.cc.utexas.edu

______________________________________________________________________
"Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics,
 because the stakes are so low".                         --- Wallace Sayre

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I, I took the road less traveled
  by, and that has made all the difference".        --- Robert Frost
______________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer:  All of the views expressed above are solely those of the
author and not necessarily those of the University of Texas or the
University of Texas Computation Center.
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