Many times people fall in love with those who look just like them or in other cases they become alike after some years of marriage. First, let's see why we tend to like people who look like us?
It is very often that I hear people say how "opposites attract" and stay together, completing each other. But after years spent in observing married couples, I am not so sure we all want the opposite of us. It is more likely that we try to find a person who has the same passions and interests. And what about the looks? Why do we prefer someone resembling us? Researches always say that we tend to trust people who "mirror" us in looks and actions more.
So when I see my friend and his girlfriend together I can't help but say how cute and adorable they look together! He confesses that it's not just me. A lot of people think they look like as if they were made for each other.
However what I personally find more interesting is how couples that initially bore no particular resemblance to each other become alike after 20-30 years of marriage. The happier the couple the more there will be resemblance between them. Robert Zajonc, a psychologist from the University of Michigan, says the increase of facial similarity results from decades of shared emotions.
After analyzing pictures of a dozen of married couples, Dr. Zajonc concludes that after 25-30 years together those people looked very much alike. It could be also because they unconsciously "mirrored" each other's facial expressions, and that over the years sharing the same expressions shapes the face similarity. If your partner has a good sense of humour and laughs a lot, he or she will probably develop laugh lines around their mouth and eyes - and so will you.
Couples that look alike, when they first meet or maybe after some years are already like each other in their interests and personalities.
