Similarity Attracts

Matt Cassell former Patriots QB with wife or sister?

The 21st century has seen the internetization (that’s right I just made that up) of many things that were previously only face-to-face affairs. Online poker has become wildly popular, for example. People don’t make mix CD’s for their crushes anymore, peer to peer file sharing through the internet has made sharing music with your friends amazingly easy. Dating has come to the world wide web, and there are a litany of companies offering to provide match services. One company in particular, eHarmony, claims to rely on the science of compatibility to make its matches. EHarmony operates on the theory that partners need to share certain key characteristics to better their chances of a successful long-term relationship.
In a recent interview with Ellen McCarthy of the Washington Post, one of eHarmony’s psychologists Gian Gonzaga talked about his experience in eHarmony’s think tank, studying the science of compatibility. When asked why it is important for two people to share important traits Gonzaga answered, “Because if you are similar to someone, it's a lot easier to understand what it is they're thinking. ... They like to believe that what they think is true, and one of the ways that we do that is to look to other people who have the same interests and beliefs and values. So when we see that in a partner, we feel validated in our sense of self, which makes us feel better and makes us like that person.” So eHarmony matches two people based on compatible character traits but how is the next step taken? If we asked some of eHarmony’s successful couples, what made you choose your spouse from a list of compatible partners based only on a picture, the answer (whether they know the term of not) would be the matching hypothesis.
The matching hypothesis claims that people are more likely to form long-standing relationships with those who are equally as physically attractive as they are (Murstein 1970). People are more likely to initiate relationships with people of equal attractiveness because we expect that people that are similar to us will also like us. I mean let's face it I'm not going to ask Heidi Klum out on a date and expect to get a positive response. She is married to Seal...SEAL! That man is a dreamboat. Once eHarmony provides a client with a list of compatible partners, the matching hypothesis claims that the client is more likely to choose to pursue a romantic relationship with possible matches that are equally attractive. Once that match is made that relationship, according to Murstein, is more likely to succeed than a relationship between two people of differing attractiveness.

Answer: That is Matt Cassell's Wife in the picture above

Link to the Interview with Dr. Gonzaga
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/042609/sty_0426090046.shtml