Opposites do attract, it’s official
WHEN it comes to love, opposites really do attract, according to a scien- tific study of romantic couples.
Though it was cited as the reason for the break-up of pop princess Taylor Swift and actor boyfriend Joe Alwyn, psychologists found personality differences had no impact on the strength of a relationship.
Researchers used psychological profiling to study personality characteristics of 1,294 couples – from openmindedness to whether they were introverts, extroverts or even neurotic.
They found that it made no difference to their “life satisfaction” or the scale of the spark between them if these traits were similar or different.
But when both parties were more extroverted and conscientious, the relationship was deemed stronger than it was if both were the opposite. The results also suggested the key was sharing similar values, attitudes and goals, said psychologists Rebekka Weidmann and Mariah Purol of Michigan State University.
In the Journal of Research in Personality, they said: “We found no similarity effects of partners’ personality traits on relationship and life satisfaction.
“We found similarity in personality facets was negligible in explaining relationship satisfaction and life satisfaction.
“People may be likely to choose partners similar to them, but our research shows this is not associated with higher life or relationship satisfaction in established couples. “Personality facet-level associations are under researched. Our findings revealed unique insights into which facets are most strongly linked to satisfaction in a relationship and life in general.”
Taylor and Joe, meanwhile, split after six years. Sources claimed “differences in personalities” and that the relationship had “just run its course”. Others suggested the British star, 32, found it hard to cope with the 33-year-old US singer’s level of fame.