The important issues to focus on and discuss in detail, because they influence the nature of people’s attraction to each other and relationships, are the issues of proximity and relationship rewards. According to the idea of proximity, people choose to like, love, or even marry those individuals who live nearby or can be easily contacted because of a short distance between them. As a result, people’s feelings and emotions in relation to a certain person can be influenced by the fact of their location or belonging to the same community (Myers and Twenge 407). Even if individuals do not notice the tendency, they often choose to interact with those persons who are at an appropriate functional distance from them.
Another issue is associated with the idea of receiving some rewards from interacting with selected people. According to the reward theory of attraction, people choose to be friends with those persons with whom they feel better, thus, obtaining certain emotional rewards (Myers and Twenge 432). From this perspective, individuals are interested in being involved in rewarding relationships, and they like those persons who can provide them with this experience.
The concepts of proximity and relationship rewards were selected because these aspects unconsciously affect individuals’ choices of friends and partners. It is surprising that the aspect of a geographical location or a distance can influence important choices, like selecting a life partner to marry. Thus, attraction and love seem to be provoked or stimulated by the factors that are not associated with individuals’ personalities. Furthermore, people are usually unaware of the rewards they receive while developing certain relationships, and this aspect needs to be accentuated in order to understand their motivation.
Work Cited
Myers, David, and Jeanne Twenge. Social Psychology. 12th ed., McGraw-Hill, 2016.