Nature vs. Nurture
Attraction-is it something we learn or something we inherited? Both! A question that is asked by many psychologists is on sexual orientation, which falls under the category of attraction. In this case, sexuality is nurture, not nature, because it is not due to the environment. A famous study done by Pillard and Bailey was created to examine "identical and fraternal twin brothers—as well as nonrelated brothers who had been adopted—in an effort to see if there was a genetic explanation for homosexuality. They found that if one identical twin was gay, 52 percent of the time the other was also; the figure was 22 percent for fraternal twins, and only 5 percent for nonrelated adopted brothers" (Nature vs. Nurture). This proves that homosexuality is biological not learned.
A lot of attraction is nature though. Naturally, as children grow up, they become more interested in the opposite sex. Being attracted to each other, especially in a physical way, is not learned. It is evolution and biological psychology. Since we are made to reproduce with the opposite sex, we are attracted to them.
Not all of attraction is nature. Different things are learned, throughout experience and opinion. People have different types and different preferences when it comes to what we are into. This could be physical, like hair color and body type, or personality types. These are different characteristics that are different for everyone.
A lot of attraction is nature though. Naturally, as children grow up, they become more interested in the opposite sex. Being attracted to each other, especially in a physical way, is not learned. It is evolution and biological psychology. Since we are made to reproduce with the opposite sex, we are attracted to them.
Not all of attraction is nature. Different things are learned, throughout experience and opinion. People have different types and different preferences when it comes to what we are into. This could be physical, like hair color and body type, or personality types. These are different characteristics that are different for everyone.
Criticisms
One thing that has to do with similarity on attraction is the idea of someone "complimenting" ourselves. Instead of having two people together who are both shy, quiet, and introverts, would it work better if one was an outgoing, loud, extrovert? Different people have different opinions on this. Some say "birds of a feather flock together" while some argue "birds of a feather don't always fly farthest".
Another criticism for physical attraction is different beauty norms among different cultures. For example, here in the United States, the ideal for a woman to be is medium height, long legs, curvy yet skinny, hourglass figure, tan and long hair. In some countries in the Middle East, the beauty goals are the opposite. Obesity is attractive and wanted. It is a sign of money- that you can afford to eat. Woman will go to camps and force themselves to eat an unhealthy amount. Beauty standards are different everywhere and therefore we can not focus on just one type of physical attraction.