Have you had this experience of seeing two persons who look alike facially and just when you thought they are blood relatives, you are told that they are not? Many of us have. Now picture these scenarios based on eye-witness accounts:
1. You see a man and a woman who look so much alike that you might mistake them for a brother and sister. Then you are told they are husband and wife or they have been in courtship for some time in readiness for marriage.
2. Someone approached you and asked if you are so and so person. When you say, ‘no,’ he/she would then ask if you are related to someone else he/she knew from somewhere else. After all the descriptions, you realize that you share mere facial resemblances with that individual but you are not related to him/her in any way. You may not even be from the same tribe or region.
3. Stories of someone who died in say Southern Nigeria but some years later, witnesses say that same individual was sighted in Eastern or Western Nigeria alive. Could this be mere facial resemblances and not reincarnations as some people believe?
4. A woman after she became pregnant became very close to a male friend who is not the father of the child. Eventually, the woman gives birth to a child who has striking resemblance with this individual she has been close to. We are not talking of a woman who got pregnant out of infidelity. There are experiences of women giving birth to children who look just like a friend of hers who is not related to her by blood and is not the father of the child.
5. Look-alikes. Over the years, in the world of celebrities, there have been look-alikes who successfully pose as the original celebrity and misled people into thinking they are celebrities. Even politicians and public figures have used look-alikes as doubles in order to avoid a crowd or an assassination. Elvis Presley used look-alikes to distract fans so that he could walk outside his home in peace.
6. If you are opportune to go through the pictures of the over 7 billion people on planet Earth, don’t you think that aside from your blood relatives, you will find someone who looks exactly like you? Chances are that you will find more than one person that could easily be mistaken for you.
Now, how do we explain the above scenarios? Are there researches that can throw some light on the above scenarios? Do we have anything to learn from these observations? First, let’s consider what some have found out in researches that relate to our discourse.
Wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_resemblance) summarizes two researches made by DeBruine, Lisa M. and reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. In the first research, DeBruine opined that facial resemblance enhances trustworthiness. In the study, there was a controlled experiment in which participants showed more trust to those who had the same facial resemblance with them. That means we are more likely to trust someone who look like us. It was also shown that facial resemblance increases the chance of prosocial behaviour. Wikipedia.org states, ‘Prosocial behavior, or “voluntary behavior intended to benefit another”, consists of actions which “benefit other people or society as a whole,” “such as helping, sharing, donating, co-operating, and volunteering.” These actions may be motivated by empathy and by concern about the welfare and rights of others, as well as for egoistic or practical concerns.’ This means that you are more likely to care for people who share the same facial resemblance with you.
Another study carried by DeBruine L. M. also showed that there is some relationship between facial resemblances and attractiveness, although this is not as strong as the earlier study about resemblance and trust. It states that facial resemblance could affect attractiveness for the short-term but had no effect on attractiveness for a long-term relationship. All the same, this could imply that we tend to be more attracted to someone who looks like us.
Another thing worth mentioning is the study of interpersonal attraction in social psychology. Wikipedia.org states that interpersonal attraction relates to how much we like, dislike, or hate someone. ‘It can also be viewed as a force acting between two people that tends to draw them together and resist their separation.’ It goes on to explain that similarity (like-attracts-like) is a vital determinant of interpersonal attraction and that studies have shown that people are more attracted to ‘look-a-likes in physical and social appearance.’ The principle of self-affirmation was also highlighted. This involves the observation that an individual would like persons who approve of his/her life, ideas, attitudes and other characteristics and thus look for others who are like mirror images of himself or herself to spend his/her lives with. [Please note that all the quotes are from Wikipedia.org.]
So, what can we learn from the above observations and research? Meanwhile, it’s worthy of note that while the above researches throw some light on the reason why close friends or spouses look alike, it does not explain why persons who have never met before and who are not related in anyway share striking facial resemblances. Well, I will revisit this issue in a short while.
Firstly, there is a common observation that many couples or long-term close friends tend to look alike. Why? If DeBruine’s research is anything to go by, it means that ab initio people tend to get attracted to, be close to and trust persons who share facial and physical resemblances with them. That means, couples looking alike tells the story of how and why they are together in the first place. Another way to look at it is, oftentimes, when we see couples or close friends together, we tend to look for the similarities between them. Thus, it could be a matter of perception. It also raises critical questions. Could it be that when two individuals, who are not related by blood but who became very close, undergo psychosomatic changes that make them look alike? Or could it be that when friendship or a marriage union is formed, friends or couples tend to act alike and as such dress, talk, behave and even look alike in the process? Is close association amongst non-blood relatives so powerful to engender changes that make them look alike? Can we then say that show me your friend and I will tell you what you look like? It’s a known fact that bad association could very well have a negative influence. Does it not stand to reason that if we don’t want to look like some persons with bad personalities, we would not want to closely associate with them?
Secondly, the case of the baby of a pregnant mother looking like a close friend of hers may not be a common occurrence but some have vehemently claimed that it has occurred before. I don’t have an explanation for that just as we don’t have explanation for some very common daily experiences. But if that is the case, there is a lesson for would-be fathers and husbands to get close to their wives especially when she’s pregnant. You wouldn’t like your child to look like someone else, would you?
God and one mind. Do you wonder why people who are not related in any way other than being humans look so much alike even when they don’t share the same ancestry or background? Why do I share a resemblance with someone from Northern Nigeria even though I was born and raised by parents who are both of Southern Nigeria ancestry? Why do you resemble that man or woman whom you’ve never met before and while two of you share nothing else in common? Do we really need to wonder afar? Think of this. A car company can make different types and brands of car. But no matter how diverse the type of car made, a car expert can tell if they were made from the same company because there is something in all of them that bear the hallmark of that company. Look at the Nokia phones. No matter the make or series, you can always tell a Nokia phone because they were made by one company with one set of ideas, objectives and goals.
Now, when we see the similarities that exist amongst men and even between man and lower animals, scientists are quick to point to evolution. In their presumed calculations, these similarities can only be explained by evolutionary trends. But, could there be another explanation? When we take a look at the furniture items made by one carpenter and we find so many similarities amongst his works, do we not usually attribute this to the work of one set of hands and to one mind? When arts experts take a look at the works of arts, can’t they tell if they were made by one person by the similarities in the pieces? Don’t all the works of Leonardo da Vinci look alike even after many centuries? Is it hard to think that the facial similarities we share with others along with other things we share with fellow humans show that we were all created by one set of hands and one mind? We look alike because we were created by one mind. Yes, the Mind of God! In the final analysis, we share resemblances with others around the world because we share a common ancestry with the first human couple created by one mind, the mind of God. He created them and empowered them to fill this earth with humans. Yes, we look alike because, in a sense, we are related.
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