Monday, September 28, 2015

Why old couples look alike.

Ever wondered why many  old couples have striking resemblance? It's a popular observation and scientists have proposed some explanations for this. These are some of the explanations given.

Decades of shared emotions.
Research reveals that the happier the marriage, the more the couple resembles each other. A study was conducted at the University of Michigan by psychologist Dr Zajonc & Co-researchers. Test subjects were randomly given photos of people with the background blacked out. They were told to match the men with the women they most resembled. Twenty-four pictures were of couples when they first married. The other Twenty-four  were of the same couples 25 years or more later. The couples were white, lived in Michigan or Wisconsin, and were between 50 and 60 in the second photos.

The judges discovered that the young couples showed little or no resemblance to each other while there was marked resemblance between the couples who had been married a quarter-century.While the resemblances were not dramatic - some seemed to involve subtle shifts in facial wrinkles and other facial contours, for instance - they were marked enough that the judges were able to match husbands and wives far more often when the couples were older than when they were younger.

Dr Zajonc proposed an explanation for this; common life experiences over years and years can alter facial musculature and wrinkle patterns, leading to an increased resemblance. Couples unconsciously mimic the facial expressions of their spouses in a silent empathy and that, over the years, sharing the same expressions shapes the face similarly.

Similar  environment
Similar environment, similar diet, similar disposition, postures, gesticulations etc

Initial resemblance
Some others are of the opinion that some couples initially look alike when they got married.

If all the above is logical, then what happens in the typical  african polygamy scenerio?  Will a man look like his 4 or 5 wives at same time? Or will they all find a way of collectively looking like each other?... just thinking aloud!

photo credit : www. Stopcoloncancernow.com





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