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Understanding the psychology behind teenage attraction

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We all must have experienced attraction towards other people in some point of time in our lives. The feeling of getting attracted towards other can be seen mostly during teenage. However, teenagers sometimes do name this feeling of attraction and infatuation as Love. But we later on realize that it’s just attraction nothing else. Each one of us experiences this feeling in teenage, but have we ever thought of the factors that might result in these attractions. So in this article I would like to focus your attention towards the factors that lead to attraction.

According to various researches, there are two factors that lead to attraction: 1) Situational factors such as proximity, familiarity and Anxiety; and 2) Individual factors such as similarity, personal qualities, reciprocity of liking and physical attractiveness. Lets me first discuss about Situational factors, a) Proximity- It means that teenager generally choose those as their friends or lover who live close to them than those who stay away.  A study by Leon Festinger, Kurt back & Stanley, found that 2/3 people listed friends those people who reside in same building but also at the same floor; b) Familiarity- according to this factor we develop attraction towards other because of the repeated exposure to the person, which Robert Zajonc called as Mere Exposure effect; c) Anxiety or stress- people with high anxiety or stress prefer to be alone whereas people who are low on anxiety and stress they prefer to be with others. Thus situational factors shows that the teenagers attraction towards other people arises because of their close proximity with others, their familiarity with others and low level of stress that one experiences.

Second factor is Individual factor: which includes a) Similarity- researches have shown that we are more attracted to the people who are similar to us in their attitude and characteristics. This happens because it helps us to conform our view of the world and to assume that they will like us whom we like; b)Personal qualities- people with both negative as well as positive qualities are said to be liked and more likely to be attracted then those who are flawless; c) Reciprocity of liking- it is the belief that we are attracted to those people who like us or who are our friends; and d) Physical attractiveness- teenagers are seen to be getting attracted to those who they seen as more physically attractive than to those whom they see as less attractive. Thus individual factors of attraction shows that teenagers attraction towards other people arises because of their personal qualities, similarity of attitude, reciprocity of liking and whom they find as more physically attractive.

Moreover, I would like to conclude by telling you guys that there are evidences of gender difference in attraction. Women are more likely to have larger network of people whom they call as friends than men and women are more likely than men to report their close friendship with other women.

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She is a task oriented and optimistic person. She loves doing things in her own way and adding her creativity to it. She likes helping others and making people aware of things that is important for them. She is a Psychologist and currently working as a Programme Associate of Assessment and Development center at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

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