Is this why you’re obsessed with Netflix’s ‘hot Rabbi’? Psychologists point to three key characteristics of a ‘perfect man’ as the internet goes wild over Adam Brody’s character in the hit series Nobody Wants This

More than twenty years after his breakthrough role on The OC, Adam Brody finds a new legion of fans with Netflix’s Nobody Wants This.

The 44-year-old actor plays newly single Noah, a witty basketball-playing rabbi who becomes entangled in a relationship with Joanne – Kirsten Bell – an agnostic podcaster about sex and relationships.

The couple must contend with their religious differences and their respective chaotic family dynamics.

In the series, Noah is also called ‘hot rabbi’, a clear nod to the handsome priest from Fleabag. And it has proven even more popular than the hit BBC show, with more than 10 million views in its first four days of streaming alone.

Fans have flocked to social media to praise Adam Brody’s sex appeal, intelligence and middle-aged vulnerability.

One wrote: ‘Adam Brody, the absolute green flag that you are.’

Another said, “Adam Brody healed all the girls who were ever told they were ‘too much.’ I actually cried.”

A third stated, “Save me Adam Brody as the best rabbi, save me.”

“Adam Brody is the perfect romance lead and we’ve seriously underutilized him over the last 10-15 years,” said a fourth.

Now research has shown exactly why Noah can be considered ‘perfect’, by pinpointing three distinct characteristics.

Kindness and understanding, not always wanting the same things, and compromise are among the three most important qualities repeatedly highlighted in studies.

In one American studyresearchers surveyed 184 participants about their most and least desirable characteristics in a romantic partner.

Both genders agreed that kindness and understanding, an exciting personality and intelligence are the most important.

In another, published earlier this year, scientists in Brazil Regardless of sexual orientation, people preferred intelligence and kindness over physical attractiveness when choosing a partner.

They asked 778 heterosexual, bisexual and gay men and women to construct their ideal partner based on a set of predetermined traits: intelligence, friendliness, physical attractiveness, health and socio-economic status.

Participants were also presented with three budget scenarios: low, medium and high.

But despite the universal appeal of intelligence and kindness, the researchers also found variations in how these and other traits were valued through the lens of sex.

For example, straight men rated physical attractiveness significantly higher than their counterparts.

It comes at a time when the series is being praised by critics for delivering the best and funniest story in the rom-com genre since 1989’s When Harry Met Sally.

The ten-part series stars Brody and Bell and comes from writer Erin Foster, daughter of David Foster and stepdaughter of Katharine McPhee, who converted to Judaism before marrying her husband.

On the show, Noah tells Joanne that there is nothing worse for his professional image than falling for a ‘shiksa’. ‘

Technically it’s a Yiddish insult that means you’re unclean and odious, but nowadays it just means you’re a handsome, blonde Gentile,” Noah tells Joanne.

Part of the appeal, viewers say, is Noah’s intrinsic lack of availability.

Like the “hot priest” before him in Fleabag, Noah is not allowed to date a secular woman.

And like Phoebe Waller Bridge’s character, Joanne is a committed atheist.

They both represent forbidden crushes, forcing the protagonists to compromise.

In one Study from 2017researchers concluded that clinging to the idea that you don’t have to compromise in a relationship is unrealistic and “compromise is inevitable.”

But Noah’s relationship with Joanne also shows that couples won’t always want the same things – another factor that research repeatedly shows makes the ‘perfect partner’.

An American study assessing the personality traits of 360 couples found that both partners bring their own unique qualities, and that those qualities influence the relationship independently.

Writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychologythe researchers said: ‘Each partner’s personality contributes independently to relationship outcomes, but not in a synergistic way – an entire relationship is not greater than the sum of its two parts.’

Relationship psychotherapist Charisse Cooke also said it Refinery29: ‘People often confuse compatibility with being the same.

‘It is often the differences in relationships that can cause problems and conflicts.

‘So we can imagine that someone with the same interests as us protects us against misunderstandings or disagreements.’

But she added, “When you date someone who has similar interests, there is less room for growth. You may stop trying new things.”

In an interview with Vanity fair this week, Brody said fans can expect his characters to be “increasingly generous and self-aware” as the actor himself ages.

“This could be because I’m old and slowing down,” he said, “or because I’m wise, grounded and confident.”