Reciprocal Liking

If someone you’re interested in makes it clear that he or she is also interested in you, this is known as reciprocal liking (Aron et al., 2008). Reciprocal liking increases the chance that you and the other person will forge a relationship. For example, you’re much more likely to become friends with a coworker who strikes up conversations with you and laughs at your jokes—showing that she likes you—than with a coworker who expresses no interest in you. When it comes to romantic involvements, studies examining people’s narrative descriptions of “falling in love” have found that reciprocal liking is the most commonly mentioned factor leading to love (Riela, Rodriguez, Aron, Xu, & Acevedo, 2010).