Comments on: You Think You (And Your Parents) Are Hot

By: Antoine

Antoine — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:33:40 +0000

Parents have similar faces.
Morphing between parent face will be more symetric than between stranger faces.
Symetry is the best indicator of beauty in a face.
Therefore this result could have been predicted.
Incest would not be the same as the face of the child is not a real average between the parents.
Or is there something I miss ?

By: Joanna Cake

Joanna Cake — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:09:08 +0000

I find my kids’ faces appealing but I think that’s more to do with familiarity than attraction, so wouldn’t that be the same reasoning for subconsciously selecting mates who look like our parents?

Here’s my take on the real reason why we should not marry people who resemble our close family.

http://andeatingit2.com/2010/08/02/rules-of-attraction-part/

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:54:35 +0000

check crossracial adoptees.

By: Rhacodactylus

Rhacodactylus — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:53:10 +0000

This is interesting, and I’m sure there is a connection to a search for similar features, but how much of this could be attributed to the Mere Exposure Effect, I mean in terms of faces we are exposed to, our parents and our own would be number 1,2 and 3, at least for the formative years of our life.

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:50:07 +0000

Wasn’t this already known?

I don’t know where, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read that on average, mate selection is positively correlated with the physical characteristics of your parents. While you don’t want to sleep with your parents, you do want to sleep with someone who is somewhat like your parents. On average, your mileage may vary, etc.