It’s not always about looks … then again, it might be.
Let’s talk about sex — more specifically, what makes us want it. There’s a lot of speculation on the subject. While it may seem as though some people just have it going on in the physical department, there are a lot of factors at play.
“I think the limbic system turns on and then the cortex comes up (with) a nice story for why it turned on,” said Kenneth Locke, who teaches Sex & Sexuality at the University of Idaho. “That’s my explanation.”
Attraction can’t be explained by looks alone, and psychologists like Locke dig deeper into attraction — evolutionary psychology deeper. According to Locke, evolutionary psychology seeks to uncover the functionality in why people are attracted to each other.
“Lust, as with many of the deadly sins, has an evolutionary explanation for why we’re wired to have that inclination,” Locke said. “Consider a saint — such a paragon of virtue is unlikely to dabble in the sins of the flesh, and so is unlikely to pass down their genes compared to someone who is more lustful and impulsive in their sexuality. Those are the genes we inherit.”
Saint or otherwise, humans tune into specific physical cues that determine attraction. Facial symmetry and familiarity, age, smell and even varying hormone levels can affect attraction.
“We can say that it’s superficial to focus on physical traits, but for the majority of people, that is the initial thing that pulls someone in,” said Erin Chapman, who teaches an Intimate Relationships course at UI. “We’re very visual people for the most part.”
Ideas of beauty based in facial symmetry date back to the Greeks, who questioned why symmetry was attractive and adhered to symmetrical ideals in their sculptures. Facial symmetry signifies someone who has developed free of disruption and avoided any disfiguring injury since then. The evolutionary psychology argument would be that such a person is healthy and might make a better mate since their physical developmental process went well.
“Psychologists tend to think the brain is wired that way because it worked,” Locke said. “People that were attracted to a symmetricalindividual were more likely to leave healthy and fertile offspring than people who were not attracted to such individuals.”
Chapman referenced love maps, which focus on familiarity and how being exposed to certain characteristics or traits while growing up can subconsciously affect who a person is attracted to later in life.
“In terms of what we’re attracted to, I think to some extent it’s socialized into us,” Chapman said. “It’s kind of like how people ‘marry their parents.'”
The theory is that, subconsciously, a person is more comfortable approaching a person who seems more familiar or similar to them. Even toys or TV show characters can create a type of familiarity.
“You feel like you know them,” Chapman said. “There’s not as much fear there — nobody likes to be rejected.”
Age range is another common qualifier in the quest for a reproductive partner. People are most attracted to individuals that have reached reproductive age but are not too old, as both sperm quality and female fertility decrease with age.
“The brain is not randomly wired this way and you find these types of patterns across cultures,” Locke said. “If you find this universality to it, you’d ask ‘Why does the brain show this pattern so consistently?'”
The search for patterns has shown that people are attracted to the smell of different immune systems than their own, and that the type of features women prefer in a mate changes during their menstrual cycle. In evolutionary psychology, there’s speculation that a person’s body shape can be an indicator of social status and access to resources. “It’s not just what’s visually appealing to us but also kind of what messages we’re getting from it,” Chapman said. “There’s a layering effect from the messages sent by a certain trait or certain feature or certain look.”
As Locke said, speculations are based on observations. Historically, people are attracted to body types that signify wealth and resources. “If you look at some of the old paintings and art, you can see that the women are a lot more voluptuous,” Chapman said. “That was considered beautiful.”
Improved access to calorie-dense food has led to a change in socioeconomic signifiers and, as a result, what cultures find attractive.
“The attraction to the Barbie-doll style — long skinny legs — is somewhat uniquely Western, in fact modern Western, phenomenon,” Locke said. “Cultures with more of a history of deprivation tend to be attracted to plumper females.”
A lot of things have changed throughout Western culture, though. Good reproductive partners aren’t always good conversation partners and bowing to evolutionary pressures don’t ensure a good relationship. “Sometimes people just find different things attractive,” Chapman said. Looks can be the initial hook, but it takes more than just physical attraction to sustain a relationship.
“Lust is fragile,” Locke said. “I don’t think of it as a deadly sin, but it’s
certainly not the basis for a long-term relationship.”
-Michaela Delavan