Why We’re Attracted To People Who Look Like Our Parents

File this under strange news: apparently we’re all dating people who look just like our parents.

Before you freak out, rest assured that it’s apparently totally normal. According to psychologist Sabina Read, the attraction is known as positive sexual imprinting.

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“It is very different to incest; there’s nothing icky about it,” she explained today on The Morning Show.

“It’s really about identifying with the opposite sex parent and finding that level of attractiveness in a new partner.”

According to Read, it’s not just your parent’s face that you'll identify with – personality, hair colour, height, ethnicity and even body hair comes in it.

But Read admits the theory is more likely to come in to play if we had a healthy and positive relationship with our parents throughout childhood – though apparently we’re still susceptible even if we had a less than happy dynamic.

“What we see in families with less than positive experiences is that sometimes we are still drawn to what is familiar, even if what is familiar is unhealthy,” explained Read.

“We also look for a partner who helps us explore the lessons that we need to learn. If we need to work through certain conflicts, we’ll find a partner who helps us do that.”

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So the next time you find yourself wondering why on earth you dated a certain someone, remember there might have been other factors at play.