Study finds women attracted to men who look like them

London: They say that opposites attract. Well they are probably wrong, according to scientists.

A study has found that women are most attracted to men who look just like them.

The results could go some way to explaining what drew stars such as David and Victoria Beckham, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis to each other in the first place.

The University of St Andrews psychologists found that women preferred men who were masculine looking but also had features that resembled their own.

It is thought that facial resemblance might help to cancel out any issues of mistrust that women normally associated with strong masculine characteristics.

The research, which is published this week by the scientific journal Behavioural Ecology, used computer digital techniques to manipulate men's faces and show them to 60 women.

Faces were made to look more or less masculine, and more or less like the woman looking at the picture. The women rated the faces for attractiveness.

The study was carried out by Tamsin Saxton, a postdoctoral research fellow funded by the Economics and Social Research Council, based at the University's School of Psychology.

She said the women were more likely to pick a man with similar characteristics to themselves.

She said: "Previous research has often found that women can be attracted to masculine men, but also a bit suspicious of them.

"However, women tend to trust men more if they look like them. So perhaps the resemblance cancelled out the women's suspicions."