Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Love is Blind, the Netflix reality show about singles “falling in love” and getting engaged – without ever having seen each other – while chatting and getting to know each other in segregated “pods”. Yeah, this is where we’re at, everyone. It’s been a worldwide phenomenon, but according to science, the premise isn’t very solid – Love actually has pretty great vision, and for good reason!

Via Glamour:

“Psychologists believe that emotional connection is the key to long term marital success—NOT physical attraction,” explains the show’s co-host, who introduces himself as “obviously, Nick Lachey.” But that’s not exactly true.

Despite Lachey’s claim on behalf of the show, psychologists—and researchers, and sociologists, and couples counselors—actually tend to agree that physical attraction and physical touch are important ingredients in the tricky-to-mix cocktail of long-term affection.

“Emotional and sexual aspects of intimacy in romantic relationships are important correlates of couples’ relationship satisfaction,” Yoo, et. al, wrote in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy in 2014. In a study of 335 married couples, those researchers found that “sexual satisfaction significantly predicted emotional intimacy for husbands and wives, while emotional intimacy did not appear to have a significant influence on sexual satisfaction.” The concept of Love Is Blind builds emotional intimacy, but doesn’t allow physical contact.

So basically what they’re saying is that OBC has it right – putting an emphasis on physical compatibility can actually be more important when trying to find a real connection!