https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-we-more-attracted-to-people-who-look-like-our-parents/ > Time and again, we’ve heard the assertion that we’re attracted to partners who look like our parents. The, rather uncomfortable, theory was originally put forth more than a century ago by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud who dubbed it the Oedipus complex in males. An analogous theory proposed by Carl Jung is known as the Electra complex in females. The theories suggest that all boys between the ages of three and five sexually desire their mothers and that little girls covet their fathers.  > Today, Freud's Oedipus complex and Jung’s Electra complex serve as textbook examples of poorly devised notions according to scientific criteria, ones that often draw scorn during psychology lectures. It is, therefore, important to be skeptical of any research that claims these ideas to be fact.