This article was written by Sharon G10.

We all have friends. I know you do. Whether you met them at school, online, or you’re simply just neighbors, you consider them to be your friends. But, have you ever thought about why you consider them your friends? Well, this article will explore the psychology behind friendship and how we feel the way we do with our friends.

The definition of friendship is different for everyone. It could mean someone who is willing and ready to lend their shoulder to cry on. Someone who is willing to go through all the beauty and ugliness the world throws at you.  Someone who you can tell anything and they can understand you without any questions. Someone who is not afraid to say “I love you” and “thank you”.

I know for me, friendship means all of the above. Someone who is caring and considerate of others. I know many of you might think that you chose your friends based on who they are. But, the truth is that we choose our friends because of the support they give to our true selves. We chose our friends because they accept and love who we are.

Research has shown that friendship is more difficult than what many of us thought. The forces that attract and bind friendship start with acquaintanceship and then lead to friendship. This has been described by both psychologists and sociologists. They have been able to find patterns of intimacy that appear between friends and have investigated the indescribable “feeling” that lifts a friend, to a “best” friend.

An experiment was created, where they followed the friendships in a two story apartment complex. They found that many people were likely to be friends with the neighbors who lived in the same floor as them. However, those who lived near the stairway and mailboxes on the ground floor had friends on both of the floors. The experiment concluded that friendship tends to occur with people you see almost everyday. This is why our friends are likely to be our neighbors and classmates.

Bonds are created between people who interact with each other. But, why do we talk to that one specific person instead of others, especially on social occasions? The answer to this is quite apparent. You have things in common. She or he likes music, reading books or playing sports, just like you do.

In the end, we can clearly say that friendship is an important and necessary aspect for most of us. Friendship comes back to the way people around us make us feel. We all want to feel appreciated and loved for who we are.