Westermarck effect

The child-rearing practices of the kibbutz system are sometimes cited as an example of the Westermarck effect. Seen here are a group of children in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, circa 1935–40.

The Westermarck effect, also known as reverse sexual imprinting, is a psychological hypothesis that states that people tend not to be attracted to peers with whom they lived like siblings before the age of six. This hypothesis was first proposed by Finnish anthropologist Edvard Westermarck in his book The History of Human Marriage (1891) as one explanation for the incest taboo.[1]

  1. ^ Hou, Bowen; Wang, Yan (2021-04-21). "Westermarck Effect and Imprinting". Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. pp. 8496–8498. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_3618. ISBN 978-3-319-19650-3. S2CID 241044443. Retrieved 2022-11-13.