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People may choose partners who are more similar than chance would predict.

Having a "type" may be less about people and more about recurring relationship patterns.

Understanding recurring relationship patterns can help us make more intentional choices.

Do we all have a "type"? Most people believe they do.

Ask someone about their dating history, and they'll often notice a pattern. Maybe they've repeatedly fallen for artists, athletes, intellectuals, bad boys, emotionally unavailable partners, or people who need rescuing. Sometimes the similarities are obvious. Other times, they are harder to spot. The faces, careers, and personalities may differ, but the emotional dynamic feels strangely familiar.

This raises a question: Do we really have a “type,” or do we simply keep repeating relationship patterns?

Research suggests the answer may be both.

On one hand, people do show relatively stable preferences when it comes to romantic attraction. Studies have found that people tend to pair with others who share similarities in education, values, personality traits, and even physical characteristics.

But that's only part of what's happening.

Psychologists have long observed that people often recreate familiar relationship dynamics, even when those dynamics are painful. The phenomenon is sometimes explained through attachment theory. Our earliest relationships help shape expectations about closeness, trust, conflict, and emotional availability.........

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