Do opposites really attract?

We've all heard the saying, 'opposites attract'; maybe it's something you consider when you meet someone dissimilar to you. Or maybe it's something you ponder over when you meet someone who you are too much alike. But how much truth does this age old saying hold? Well while this theory may ring true in the natural world of physics, it appears that the science of humans is not as bounded by theory.In a recent study conducted by Angela Bahns and a team of researchers, 1523 pairs were approached consisting of couples, friends and acquaintances. These pairs were then questioned individually on various facets of their personality traits, attitudes, values and activities. Their findings indicated that on the vast majority of factors that were measured, the couples were more similar to one another than chance.But when people spend that much time together they're bound to become more similar, people change over time ... right? Perhaps not. Another major finding of this research was that these similar aspects did not increase with how long they had known each other or even how close they were. This suggests that people have a limited scope to change one another over time (as hard as this might be to accept) and instead tend to choose relationships based on similarity right from the start; particularly regarding attributes that hold importance to oneself. Similarly, a range of other studies have found that similar personality traits between couples are linked with a greater self-reported satisfaction within their relationship as well as in marital adjustment. This suggest that not only are people initially choosing to invest time into relationships with similar others, but also that these relationships appear to be happy and fulfilling.So science seems to have proven the age-old saying ‘opposites attract’ wrong, however has added some value to its opposing statement that ‘birds of a feather, flock together’. While every relationship is different and unique in its own way, and by all means relationships can be meaningful and fulfilling between people with different traits; it appears that you are more likely to form relationships with those whom which you share similar traits, interests, likes/dislikes, values and goals with. In this way you are able to create a social world in which we feel comfortable and in accordance with.