Why Sally liked Harry

Scientists claim they may have got to the bottom of exactly why Harry and Sally ended up together.

The hit film When Harry Met Sally, currently running as a West End play, charted the love lives of two friends who eventually fell for each other.

Now researchers believe there may be a scientific basis for our tendency to fall in love with our friends.

We value personality far more highly than has been previously thought, a new study claims. So even if a person's physical presence does not make an instant impression, once we find out about their other attributes they start to appear more attractive.

Long-time friends who have become lovers include the co-stars in The Kumars At Number 42 - Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar - and footballer Michael Owen and Louise Bonsall, who have known each other since primary school.

Previous studies about attraction have centred on finding the perfect figure or facial features, but experts now believe they have been missing the point.

Professor David Wilson of New York's Binghamton University, who led the new study, said: "People see physical attractiveness differently when they know that person's other qualities, usually invisible to strangers."

He says we look for more than just physical attraction in a partner. "The value of potential social partners depends at least as much on non-physical traits - such as whether they are co-operative, dependable, brave, hardworking, intelligent and so on - as physical factors, such as smooth skin and symmetrical features."

The team carried out three studies where hundreds of volunteers were asked to rate the attractiveness of people they knew, of strangers, and of people they grew to know over the time of the study.

Participants were asked to rate physical attractiveness and nonphysical traits such as liking, respect and talent.

Strangers rated only physical attractiveness. But people who knew and liked the subject rated them as more attractive than did strangers or those who did not like them.

If those doing the rating disliked the person in question, they saw them as ugly. This was true even in the case of those rated attractive by strangers who could not be influenced by personality.

Professor Wilson concludes that the key to finding love is simple. "If you want to enhance your physical attractiveness, become a valuable social partner," he said.

Relationship counsellor Phillip Hodson, a fellow of the British Association for Counselling, said the research was "not surprising", adding: "Friends are our friends for a reason. We know we like them, and they are our cup of tea. There are none of the ice-breaking problems associated with meeting strangers.

"A lot of married women tend to have affairs with their husband's friends, which can be attributed to the same phenomenon.

"They already know they have a lot in common, and even go to the same places, so it is an obvious step to start a relationship. However, there is a distinction between sex and relationships - it tends to be the case that friends will fall into the relationship category rather than just sex."

Results from previous studies suggest physically attractive traits include high degrees of facial symmetry and ideal waist-to-hip ratios.