The Science of the Perfect Lover

Research Reveals the Factors Influencing Romantic Relationships

When you're looking for your ideal love match, consider these factors that influence romantic relationships. Some of the reasons we fall in love aren't in our control.

Finding the perfect lover can seem to be a matter of luck, but it?s really about our romantic built-in preferences. Here?s what scientific research shows about why we fall in love.




Factors that Influence Romantic Relationships

Finding your ideal love match isn?t so confusing or frustrating when you know why we fall in love.

1. Females have clear preferences for certain male body odors. Women are more sensitive to the smell of pheromones than men. For evolutionary reasons, both men and women have learned to be attracted to lovers with different immune systems than our own.

A complicating factor is that women on the birth control pill prefer men with similar [immune system odors]. So, when a woman who is on the pill unwittingly falls in love with a partner with the same [immune system odors], marries, then goes off the pill when conception no longer needs to be avoided, she will wonder how she got attracted to the smelly partner beside her,? says Dr Pierce J. Howard in The Owner? Manual of the Brain.

2. Our image of our perfect lover is established by age 10. Dr Galdino Pranzarone is a psychologist in Virginia who identified this factor that influences romantic relationships. The science of the perfect lover could be set before we're even approaching our teenage years!


3. There are no love potions or aphrodisiacs. Other than prescription medication, there are no love potions or aphrodisiacs in foods or herbs, says Dr Pranzorone. An aphrodisiac is supposed to arouse libido or the urge to sexual activity; Dr Pranzorone says that any libido-enhancing effects of natural herbs or foods may be a placebo effect.

3. Men prefer beautiful women. To determine what people want in the perfect lover or ideal mate, scientists lead by David Buss polled over 10,000 men and women in 33 countries. They found that men prefer women who were physically beautiful and youthful, even over women with high financial earning potentials. Why we fall in love - the science of the perfect lover - is influenced by factors that may not be politically correct.

4. Women prefer men who earn good money. The same anthropologists and sociologists in the above study by Buss found that one factor that influences romantic relationships for women is a good earning capacity. In perfect partner, women prefer ambition over physical attractiveness.

5. Both men and women are attracted to physical symmetry. Our romantic built-in preferences about ideal love matches include physical symmetry. Symmetry is associated with beauty ? plus there are several evolutionary advantages to physical symmetry. Research shows that men with physical symmetry have more sperm, more partners, and more extramarital affairs. Women with physical symmetry have more orgasms. Both men and women with physical symmetry have stronger immune systems. The science of the perfect love and great romantic relationships is connected to the symmetry of our bodies.

If you think finding the perfect lover is all about luck, you may want to think twice. Your romantic built-in preferences may guide your choices in romantic relationships more than you think.

If you found The Science of the Perfect Lover helpful, you might like:

* The Psychology of Love
* Why We Fall in Love
* How Love Hormones Work

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The copyright of the article The Science of the Perfect Lover in Psychology is owned by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen. Permission to republish The Science of the Perfect Lover in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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Resource

The Science of the Perfect Lover, Suite101.com, Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen, http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_science_of_the_perfect_loverMar 23, 2008