Abstract
Family members play an important role in partner preferences formation. This chapter focuses on sexual imprinting and imprinting-like effect in comparative perspective.
These mechanisms refer to the internalization of characteristics of close relatives, which are later used as a template in mate choice. Simultaneously, people create sexual aversion towards concrete individuals with whom they grew up.
The crucial question is, whether sexual imprinting might be considered in humans. Original definition of sexual imprinting proposes, that imprinting of relatives' characteristics can occur only during sensitive period, and this effect is irreversible.
However, later research on various species showed that this definition is inadequately rigid. In humans, the timing of sensitive period has never been found, thus, the existence of sensitive period is disputable.
Similarly, the irreversibility of internalised characteristics has never been confirmed. For these reasons, studies aimed at humans refers to imprinting-like effect, that suggests certain level of similarity with original concept (i.e., learning of relatives' characteristic and their subsequent preference/avoidance), but also highlights differences concerning higher flexibility of given mechanism in humans.