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Reciprocal Liking

A fourth determinant of romantic attraction is one of the most obvious and often overlooked: whether the person we’re attracted to makes it clear, through communication and other actions, that the attraction is mutual, known as reciprocal liking (Aron et al., 2008). Reciprocal liking is a potent predictor of attraction; we tend to be attracted to people who are attracted to us. 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).