Westermarck effect
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
First hypothesized by Finnish anthropologist Edvard Westermarck (1862–1939) in his book The History of Human Marriage (1891).
Noun[edit]
- 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.