Westermarck effect

The child-rearing practices of the kibbutz system are sometimes cited as an example of the Westermarck effect. Seen here are a group of children in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, c. 1935–40.

The Westermarck effect, also known as reverse sexual imprinting, is a psychological hypothesis that states that people tend not to be attracted to peers with whom they lived like siblings before the age of six. This hypothesis was first proposed by Finnish anthropologist Edvard Westermarck in his 1891 book, The History of Human Marriage, as one explanation for the incest taboo.

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