It’s the standard plot for so many of my favorite rom coms. An office friendship blossoms into something a little more steamy. Or would-be rivals turn lovers after a chance encounter shows their softer side. These two made-up scenarios are built around human nature because the longer we know someone, the more we tend to like them. And the more we become accustomed to someone’s appearance, the more it molds to our preferences. But why? What makes people more attractive over time?
According to Ravi Thiruchselvam, a self-perception researcher at the University of Toronto, several factors could be at play. In terms of physical appearance, research has found that the more times we’re shown a face, the more attractive it becomes, although attractive physical traits vary from person to person. What you think is attractive could be totally different than that of your best friend. Beauty is very personal. But when we do find someone attractive it’s the result of the brain’s reward circuitry, driven by the nucleus accumbens, a key structure involved in the brain’s motivational and emotional responses. “The activity in the nucleus accumbens may distinguish romantic partners from unfamiliar potential mates,” he says.
