Westermarck effect

English

Etymology

First hypothesized by Finnish anthropologist Edvard Westermarck (1862–1939) in his book The History of Human Marriage (1891).

Noun

Westermarck effect

1. A hypothetical psychological effect through which people who live in close domestic proximity during the first few years of their lives become desensitized to later sexual attraction. It is one explanation for the incest taboo.

See also

• genetic sexual attraction