I have taken enough psychology courses to know that people are attracted to those similar to them in personality, attitudes, and important values but no one explains how they accurately judge such characteristics (i.e. the process through which this occurs).
How do people find those who are similar in friendship and in particular potential romantic partners when they have very limited information? Is it really solely due to proximity? Are those near us more likely to be similar to us?
But I am especially curious about more superficial initial attractions such as physical appearance. How on earth do people manage to judge similarity from physical features?
