Obviously psychologists couldn’t ignore a very interesting question WHY do people like or
dislike each other. What are the mysterious factors that promote interpersonal attraction?
Tesser and Brody (1971) decided to ask people if they ranked physical attractiveness as very
important.
The survey showed that it was not ranked high but further research on actual behavior proved the
opposite.
In actual pairing off people usually choose partners who match them in physical attractiveness.
If not this factor then our competence probably can help.
Research has shown that even if we are «too perfect» in that, we will be liked better only by
people with very high or very low self-esteem.
People with average self-esteem will like us more if we are closer to them, normal, not superior
gods.
Similarity is another factor: it is positively correlated with liking on most dimensions (Rubin
1973).
Our liking for other people will help them to like us, especially in situations when they need
positive approval.
Experiments of Newcomb (1961) showed that students who lived as roommates for one year
came to like each other despite all other factors – so familiarity (and persistence) is probably the
last hope to get yourself liked.