8 psychological reasons someone might fall in love with you

We might not always be able to explain why we’re attracted to someone, but there's been a lot of research about why people fall in love.

While some explanations are attributed to social and cultural practices, such as a shared system of values and experiences, others, like the way we smell or our height, point to our biological nature as a reproductive species.

Here are some findings about attraction that might surprise you:

SEE ALSO: Science says people decide these 8 things within seconds of meeting you

1. People tend to fall in love with other people who are like them. Shared values, life experiences, levels of attractiveness, and age all can make a major difference.

Sources: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

2. If you want someone to fall in love with you, it might help to resemble their opposite-sex parent. That can mean hair and eye color, but also age. Children of young parents tend to seek out young partners more often.

Source: Evolution and Human Behavior

3. There's some evidence that scent can play a role in attraction. Ovulating women, for example, may prefer the scents of men with more testosterone. And men may prefer the scents of women at certain times in their menstrual cycles.

Sources: Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Psychological Science, Psychological Science

Also: Check out our review of a site that matches people based on how they smell after not showering.