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1. Interpersonal Attraction

There are several factors, promoting interpersonal attraction.

The first one is physical appearance. Though some surveys have shown that physical attractiveness is not very important in liking of other people, but several studies proved that in actual pairing off, people tend to look for a partner who closely match them in physical attractiveness.

The second one is our competence. It appeared that we do not like people, who are ‘too perfect, intelligent or successful’. Only when they commit some blunder, they become more human and likable in our eyes.

The third one is our similarity to other people. Scientists argue whether we like people who are similar or opposite to ourselves. Statistical studies show that husbands and wives are very often similar to each other not only in social status, but also in physical characteristics. That is liking is correlated with similarity.

The fourth reason for liking people is their liking for us. We tend to like those people who like us and to reject those who reject us.

Actually interpersonal attraction doesn’t depend completely on our beauty, competence or similarity. Sometimes we like and are liked for no reasons at all.

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Another approach to the study of man is psychoanalysis, founded by Sigmund Freud. Freud concluded that personality and our degrees of mental health depend on the actions of three major ( основной) forces: the id -our unconscious instincts, the ego - our conscious self or intellect - and superego, the conditional reflexes ['ri:fleksiz] of social rules and internalised values ( ценности). The ego, or self, is often under strain to withstand the pleasure forces from the id, pressured (оказывать давление) by the reality forces of the environment and the moral forces of our upbringing (superego). The ego and the superego are the mere tips of the id. It is what is underneath that really counts. For Freudists what is hidden is more important and real than what we feel and do.