I am an only child and would like to understand: what keeps siblings from being attracted to each other?

Question

From what I have learned in psychology, the closer people are to each other in their daily lives, the more attracted they are to each other. What is the biological or psychological reason that siblings are not attracted to each other? There are obvious reasons why it would be a bad thing, of course.

Is there a biological reason that people are not attracted to relatives?

Answer 1

The major reason i society. It is considered wrong or perverse for family to be intimate like that. Since we are told from day one that it is wrong, we, in our minds, believe it. As very young children, there are indeed very minor attractions to siblings and parents of the opposite sex. But as we get older, the ideals of society become imprinted, and we eventually view it as gross. That is why some people who grow up in an environment with things like incest, pedophilia, and bestiality may grow up with those same urges.

Answer 2

1. We've learned from past experiences that children born between siblings have a higher rate of defects. So based on that society discourages such relationships.

2. There's a theory that siblings instinctively fight for supremacy of the womb, so you just don't sleep with the enemy.

3. Variety, why sleep with your sibling when you have the neighbor's daughter (or for the truly disturbed, the neighbor's cat).

Seriously, though, simply put familiarity breeds contempt. You know that person, good and bad. As for any ironclad factor that keeps siblings from being attracted to each other, there simply isn't one.

Answer 3

Siblings and people with similar genetic make-up all produce similar pheremones. People are generally attratcted to people with different smelling pheromones than themselves so one's sibling or parent is not as chemically attractive as other non related possabilities. In todays society this is combined with social taboos to prevent the majority of incest.
Obviously this dosen't always work and incest still occurs. I think that maybe incest occurs more often in "long-lost" siblings because they haven't been raised to view that person as not an option. Also, although the majority of the time opposites attract, sometimes people with similar pheromones are more attracted to each other than the opposite. Biology is not a perfect science!

Answer 4

The same reason you're not attracted to your mom even though your friends think she's hot. Some people do commit incest, but in general people are not attracted to relatives because they're relatives. I guess you could say there is a form of an attraction between family members, but it's not sexual. But you would give your mom hugs and kisses even though you wouldn't any other older woman because you love her and care about her. It's not sexual though, or at least I hope it isn't for you.

Answer 5

The lastest study I saw shows that observing parental attention shown to a sibling is the strongest indicator of "disgust" instead of attraction. Not just being a sibling, but specifically observing the parental interaction.

Of course there is some biology, but it's not the strongest factor.

http://www.homestead.com/flowstate/incest.html
"The environmental circumstances that frame incest aversion are clear. Prior to puberty, a history of continuous social contact with members of the opposite sex, regardless of their biological relatedness to each other will result in a generalized reduction or elimination of the preparatory response of sexual arousal"

Answer 6

You're 40, happily married - and then you meet your long-lost brother and fall passionately in love. This isn't fiction; in the age of the sperm donor, it's a growing reality: 50% of reunions between siblings, or parents and offspring, separated at birth result in obsessive emotions. Last month, a former police officer was convicted of incest with his half-sister - but should we criminalise a bond hardwired into our psychology?

also if you have lived and grown up with someone all your life...i dont think you would be attracted to them.

Answer 7

I think it's the mix of familiarity, rivalry, etc.
I'm close to people in my daily life (at work) that I'm am not attracted to in the least. In fact, sometimes it's quite the opposite.

Answer 8

hmmm i believe it called morality