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A study published in the journal Plos One reveals our connection to friendship. What stands out most, overall, is that we don't have completely genuine relationships with all of our friends.
It's in the newspaper Plos One that Abdullah Almaatouq, Laura Radaelli, Alex Pentland and Erez Shmueli presented a study made in a class of 80 students all aged between 23 and 38 years old. All were asked to rate their classmates on a scale of zero to five, zero meaning "I do not know this person", three defining "it's my friend" and five was "he is one of my best friends ". The result was all the more surprising given that 94% of those surveyed thought their friendship was mutual. However, the reality is much less glorious and could well make us question our relationship to our loved ones: only 53% of friendships were reciprocal.
So, would we be bad at judging the quality of our friendships? According to the researchers of this study it would seem so. But how is this possible? How can we explain this lack of insight, this difficulty in identifying reciprocal friendships? Still according to the researchers of this same study, friendships that are not reciprocal are, in reality and above all, "desired relationships". That is to say, which were created with a specific interest such as bonding with people with a certain status. On the other hand, the people who receive this famous attention and this sudden friendship choose for themselves whether the relationship will be one-sided or not.
If we have trouble identifying the reciprocal friendships of others, it is also because, very often, we are unfortunately in denial. Researchers call it "a self-protection mechanism", leaving the individual to hide his face and refuse to see that the relationship he has with others is only going one way.
To find the study in question, go to the Plos One website.