Proximity/ Exposure
One of the main components of attraction is proximity- being physically close to one another. We are more likely to date someone we live close to or are near everyday. The more we are around people, we find things we like about them (Changing Minds Article).
Several different experiments have been conducted to prove this theory right- including one by psychologists Festinger, Schachter and Back in 1950. They surveyed different friendships in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The students surveyed were asked to name their best friends, and the study showed that 2/3 of friendships were created because of physical closeness, so people living close to each other were more likely to be friends. Another study by Bossard, who studied marriage licenses in Philadelphia, showed that people living near each other were more likely to get married.
Similar to proximity, the theory of exposure states that we are more attracted to people we see or interact with often- people we are exposed to often. A psychologist named Zajonc created the term "mere exposure effect" due to an experiment he conducted. He showed students three different stimuli- chinese characters, nonsense words, and different yearbook pictures. The students started favoring and being more attracted to the things they were exposed to most- like the same yearbook pictures. (Laws of Attraction). The mere exposure effect explains how we favor things we are exposed to often- especially people.
In general, I agree with this theory of attraction. The more we see people and are around them, the more we think they are attractive. We usually talk to people whom we see daily. Also, if we aren't physically close to people, like living close to them or going to the same school, we won't meet them. If we know a person lives halfway across the country, we generally will not be as attracted to them because we know it will never work out.
A video on the mere exposure effect:
Several different experiments have been conducted to prove this theory right- including one by psychologists Festinger, Schachter and Back in 1950. They surveyed different friendships in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The students surveyed were asked to name their best friends, and the study showed that 2/3 of friendships were created because of physical closeness, so people living close to each other were more likely to be friends. Another study by Bossard, who studied marriage licenses in Philadelphia, showed that people living near each other were more likely to get married.
Similar to proximity, the theory of exposure states that we are more attracted to people we see or interact with often- people we are exposed to often. A psychologist named Zajonc created the term "mere exposure effect" due to an experiment he conducted. He showed students three different stimuli- chinese characters, nonsense words, and different yearbook pictures. The students started favoring and being more attracted to the things they were exposed to most- like the same yearbook pictures. (Laws of Attraction). The mere exposure effect explains how we favor things we are exposed to often- especially people.
In general, I agree with this theory of attraction. The more we see people and are around them, the more we think they are attractive. We usually talk to people whom we see daily. Also, if we aren't physically close to people, like living close to them or going to the same school, we won't meet them. If we know a person lives halfway across the country, we generally will not be as attracted to them because we know it will never work out.
A video on the mere exposure effect: