Disease prompts us to seek ‘healthier’ partners

PEOPLE are more attracted to healthy-looking partners if surrounded by dirt, disease or unattractive settings.

A team at Stirling University explored the idea that attraction is affected by environmental factors by asking participants to rate the attractiveness of faces after exposing them to a series of “disgusting” images, including a used handkerchief, an open wound and a crowded carriage on a train.

Scientists found men and women preferred the healthier-looking faces of the opposite sex after they viewed the pictures.