‘I will never date anyone like my Ex!’ – A resolution we all tend to make after a toxic relationship and an ugly breakup. However, most of us find the same traits in our next, and the next and in our one-and-only. If you have been wondering why, here’s your answer!
A nine-year-long research study conducted by the help of author Yoobin Park and Geoff MacDonald manifested that people often tend to date people who have the same traits as their previous partner. The research was published in the journal of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study was directed upon the dating patterns of 332 people of several age groups that examined the similarities between their partners. They looked into the responses of the participants of the 21 questions that were based on the Big Five Personality Theory.
The results showed consistency in the personality of the participants’ previous and current partners. According to the co-author of the research Geoff MacDonald who is a professor in the Department of Technology at University of Toronto, “The degree of consistency from one relationship to the next suggests that people may indeed have a ‘type’, and though our data do not make clear why people’s partners exhibit similar personalities, it is noteworthy that we found partner similarity above and beyond similarity to oneself.”
The researchers also suggested that dating apps can also take advantage of this research which usually pairs individuals on the basis of their education and personal habits. “These websites and apps might want to incorporate information about ex-partners in their algorithms in the same way that music apps use past listening preferences to predict what else might a person enjoy,” says Park who has done many such pieces of research before.
The study that took place in Germany also aimed at finding ways to strategize and strengthen relationships. The research adeptly concludes that all people definitely have a type and therefore fall in love with the same kind of people again and again.
Sources: https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-study-finds-evidence-dating-types-offers-clues-maintaining-happy-relationships
