Scientists revealed how friendship is formed

The formation of friendship is not a random process but the result of a complex interaction of environment, personal qualities, and biological mechanisms. This is the conclusion reached by scientists studying social connections through psychology, sociology, and neuroscience. This is reported by the portal PsyPost.

One of the key factors turns out to be physical proximity. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology showed that schoolchildren sitting next to each other are significantly more likely to become friends. When seats are changed, they quickly form new connections with their new neighbors. Similar patterns persist into adulthood: as noted in a review in the Community Development Journal, communal spaces — clubs and centers — create conditions for regular interaction and help people find common interests.

However, proximity alone is not enough. Personality traits largely determine whether an acquaintance will develop into a friendship. A study in the Journal of Behavioral Data Science showed that connections more often arise both between very similar people and between those who are very different. At the same time, extroverts and people with high confidence in communication are more often found at the center of social networks, according to data from Frontiers in Psychology. A study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships also showed that openness to new experiences contributes to expanding one's social circle, while high agreeableness may limit it.

With the transition to adulthood, the process becomes more complicated. As a study in the Journal of Adolescence showed, many college students experience loneliness because they expect friendships to form on their own, as they did in school. In practice, however, this requires active effort — from taking the initiative in communication to organizing meetups.

Scientists are also testing whether this process can be accelerated. An experiment published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence showed that sequentially discussing personal topics and completing joint tasks enhance feelings of closeness. Similar programs, as shown by a study in the International Journal of Inclusive Education, help adults as well: after training sessions, participants feel more confident in communication and better understand how to build relationships.

Particularly interesting results have come from neuroscience. A study in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience showed that friends exhibit similar brain activity when perceiving the same stimuli. Moreover, a study in Nature Human Behaviour demonstrated that similarity in brain responses can predict future friendships: people whose neural responses matched even before they met were more likely to become friends several months later.

According to the researchers, this phenomenon — so-called "neural homophily" — means that people are drawn to those who perceive the world in a similar way. Ultimately, friendship turns out to be the result not only of circumstances but also of a deep biological compatibility that makes communication easier and more enduring.