Way to a girl's heart: look like the dad, win the daughter

The way to a girl's heart: look like the dad, win the daughter
By Steve Connor and Jonathan Brown
Published: 13 June 2007
Independent UK

Scientists have discovered that women who have close relationships with their fathers are drawn to men who resemble them.

Husbands and boyfriends: take a good look in the mirror. Then dig out your partners' family photographs. Do you look like her father? If not, you could be in trouble.

For women who enjoyed strong childhood relationships with their fathers prefer to have a male partner who physically resembles him, a new study has found. The findings could explain why famous "daddy's girls", such as Nigella Lawson and Zoe Ball have chosen husbands who look remarkably similar to their own fathers, said the researchers who carried out the work.

The study, conducted by a team that included scientists from Durham University, supports the evolutionary idea that sexual imprinting - when sexual preferences are based on parental characteristics - occurs in humans just as it is known to occur in many other species.

It might seem slightly disturbing to discover that your partner's sex life is dictated by how she got on with her father, but the evidence does indeed suggest that women who had strong paternal bonds were more likely to choose men who looked like him than those who did not.

The researchers interviewed 49 eldest daughters who were asked to select the most attractive face from a set of 15 photographs of men.

Ears, hair, neck, shoulders and clothing were deliberately obscured to ensure they chose purely on the basis of "central" facial characteristics, such as eyes, nose, mouth and chin.

The women were also asked a series of questions designed to assess how well they got on with their own fathers during the critical years of childhood when sexual imprinting could have developed. For example, the women were asked to assess how much a father engaged in bringing up his daughter, how much leisure time they spent together and how much overall emotional investment she felt her father had made in her. Scientists analysed the faces from the panel of 15 photographs and compared them to the facial measurements taken of each woman's own father so that the researchers could assess which face correlated most closely with each of the 49 fathers.

The results of the study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, clearly showed that a woman who had a good childhood relationship with her father found men with similar facial characteristics the most sexually attractive.

However, this did not appear to be the case with women whose answers suggested that they did not enjoy a close relationship with their fathers, according to Lynda Boothroyd of Durham University, the study's author.

"While previous research has suggested this to be the case, these controlled results show for certain that the quality of a daughter's relationship with her father has an impact on whom she finds attractive," Dr Boothroyd said.

"It shows that our human brains don't simply build prototypes of the ideal face based on those we see around us, rather they build them based on those to whom we have a strongly positive relationship," she said.

"We can now say that daughters who have very positive childhood relationships with their fathers choose men with similar central facial characteristics to their fathers."

The scientists who took part in the study claim that the findings can explain why, for instance, Charles Saatchi, who is married to Nigella Lawson, has a passing resemblance to Nigel Lawson and why Norman Cook, the husband of Zoe Ball, looks similar to Johnny Ball in the central area of the face, notably the nose, chin and eyes.

The research, which was carried out on Polish women, was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Royal Society.

The researchers said that the study disproves the idea that a woman's choice of partner is always purely passive. It must involve an active choice based on childhood experiences, they said - a finding that could have repercussions in the study of human evolution, fertility and genetics. Millions of men, meanwhile, will be left simply peering at their reflections.

Gwyneth Paltrow - THE DAUGHTER: Gwyneth Paltrow: The macrobiotic Oscar-winning actress who boasts top-notch friendships with stars such as Madonna and Steven Spielberg. Stunned pop fans when she married singer Chris Martin at a secret ceremony in southern California.

THE FATHER: Bruce Paltrow: Producer best known for NBC's long-running hospital drama St Elsewhere. Produced and directed his daughter in 2000 road movie Duets. Died from complications after battling oral cancer while on holiday with his daughter in Rome.

THE PARTNER: Chris Martin: Earnest, former public schoolboy frontman with multi-platinum-selling British rock band Coldplay. Has become a spokesman for liberal causes such as fair trade and vegetarianism as well as backing John Kerry for the US presidency against George Bush in 2004.
-----------------------------------------------

Nigella Lawson - THE DAUGHTER: Nigella Lawson: Domestic goddess of gastro-porn as admired for her heaving bosom and seductive curves as for her sticky toffee pudding. Has sold more than two million copies of her books, fronting many cookery programmes and launching her own range of kitchenware. Her first husband, John Diamond, died of throat cancer in 2001.

THE FATHER: Nigel Lawson: Former roly-poly Chancellor of the Exchequer who presided over the economic boom of the mid-Thatcher years. Resigned after long feud with Alan Walters and was elevated to the House of Lords in 1992 as Lord Lawson of Blaby. Slimmed down after leaving office and wrote a popular diet book.

THE PARTNER: Charles Saatchi: Co-founded global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi with his brother, Maurice. Today he is best known as an art collector and owner of the Saatchi Gallery on London's South Bank, where he has pioneered the work of Young British Artists including Damien Hirst.
-----------------------------------------------

Zoe Ball - THE DAUGHTER: Zoe Ball: Hired to present Radio 1's breakfast show in 1997. Married the musician Norman Cook, better-known as Fatboy Slim, in 1999.

THE FATHER: Johnny Ball: Children's television presenter who popularised science. In 2003 he made an outspoken attack on the quality of children's programming.

THE PARTNER: Norman Cook: Quentin Leo Cook, the DJ, pioneered immediately recognisable sounds with era-defining hits such as "Praise You" and "Right Here Right Now".
---------------------------------------------------

Emma Thompson - THE DAUGHTER: Emma Thompson: Won an Oscar for her performance in 1992's Howards End. The former Footlights vice-president formed one half of the British acting power couple during her marriage to Kenneth Branagh. Married the actor Greg Wise in 2003. The couple have one daughter.

THE FATHER: Eric Thompson: Best known as the narrator and writer for the cult children's television show Magic Roundabout.

THE PARTNER: Greg Wise: The Newcastle-born actor's credits include Mad Cows. Appeared alongside his future wife in the 1995 film version of Sense and Sensibility.

Peaches Geldof - THE DAUGHTER: Peaches Geldof: Precocious second daughter of Bob and the late Paula Yates, she presented her own reality television show at the age of 16 and went on to write columns for The Daily Telegraph as well as appearing regularly in celebrity gossip columns.

THE FATHER: Bob Geldof: Famous for his long, unkempt hair, scruffy clothes and liberal use of profanities during live television interviews, Geldof's career has taken him from rock star to global saviour.

THE PARTNER: Fred Les: She let it slip that her boyfriend was in fact a little-known musician who bears a passing resemblance to her saintly father.
----------------------------------------------

Emilia Fox - THE DAUGHTER: Emilia Fox: The Oxford-university educated daughter of actors Edward Fox and Joanna David is best known for taking over from Amanda Burton in the television hit Silent Witness.

THE FATHER: Edward Fox: Quintessential upper-class actor who went to Harrow before joining the Coldstream Guards. His most famous roles include the assassin in the Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the 1978 television series Edward and Mrs Simpson.

THE PARTNER: Jared Harris: The son of Richard Harris, the actor, playboy and drinker who appeared alongside Edward Fox in the 1963 British film classic This Sporting Life. Married Emilia Fox in 2005.