Literature Review On Interpersonal Attraction

Proposal - Amitai Meyerowitz

Literature review (1) MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) are a group of genes essential for the immune system. Unique body smells are heavily influenced by MHC and according to a study by Weekend et al (1), in which males wore a T-shirt for two consecutive nights without adding any artificial scents then had females smell the shirts and classify the odour as attractive or unattractive. Females were more attracted to the scent of males with dissimilar MHCs.

MHC is expressed dominantly; a more diverse set of MHC genes leads to a stronger immune system. It has been found from this experiment that women prefer male partners with differing MHC genes from themselves. Therefore, one evolutionary explanation for

their bone-structure, characteristics life goals and overall physical appearance their experiment was a score like sheet which you would grant points to another person. The result to this sheet was that the more alike the more points are match to each others the happier people are in a relationship. The lookalike effect also plays a role of self-affirmation. A person is typically happier when given confirmation of aspects of their life like their ideas attitudes and characteristics these people seem to look for a self-portrait to carry with them through life. Their study concluded with the study that happy people want to be with happy people and miserable people prefer to be with people like themselves and that humans choose mates based partly on facial resemblance to

appearances actually play a part in whether someone of the . opposite gender is attracted to them. 2) it will allow a deeper look into the sexual attraction between , men and women forcing people to rethink about products , they buy to improve their appearance. 3) it can prove to people that attraction is more on a chemical , level than an emotional level and is triggered by our bodies , rather than feelings.

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