Do Opposites Really Attract in Relationships, or Is It a Myth?
Photo: Shutterstock We’ve all seen the pairing. The quiet, calculating introvert with the social extrovert. The careful planner tangled up with the spontaneous risk-taker. The corporate strategist dating the artist. On paper, it seems appealing. In real life? It depends. The idea that opposites attract has been romanticized for decades in movies, books in the kind of love stories that thrive on tension. Think of the friction-filled chemistry between Noah and Allie in The Notebook, or the famously mismatched dynamic of Carrie and Mr. Big in Sex and the City. Conflict makes for great storytelling. Photo: Istock Research suggests that similarity especially in core values, long-term goals, and emotional temperament predicts relationship satisfaction more reliably than dramatic personality differences. Shared beliefs about money, family, faith, ambition, and lifestyle tend to hold couples together when the butterflies settle. That said, contrast ca...