psychological facts about friendship

35 Psychological Facts About friendship

1. According to research by Ohio University: There are five qualities that lead to an ever lasting friendship. The friendship should be personal, on equal ground, mutual, voluntary and affectionate.

2. Not enjoying work and having no friends there are linked. Data shows that if you have no friends at work, there’s only an 8.3% chance you actually enjoy your job.

3. The average amount of friends you have will stay the same for the majority of your life.

4. Did you know that you can appear more attractive when you’re in a group with your friends than you are on your own. This is the group attractiveness effect, it’s a cognitive bias which causes people to think individuals are more attractive when they are in a group.

5. Data shows that if you work with your best friend, you’re actually 7 times more likely to be productive and enjoy your work.

6. It’s estimated you make 396 friends over your lifetime

7. For friendships, quality over quantity is the way to go. When it comes to happiness, the quality of the friendships you have is far more important than the number of friends you have.

8. 10 year olds usually maintain around ¾ of their friendships over a school year

9. The number of people we can maintain as casual friends is about 150. This is known as Dunbar’s number. It is a suggested cognitive limit number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships—relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person.

10. According to teenage boys, 38% of them would share their gaming handle with someone they wanted to be friends with.

11. For a healthy marriage, keeping the friendship going is 5 times more important than physical intimacy.

12. People with an extensive network of friends live up to 22% longer.

13. Only half of the people we consider to be friends actually feel a similar way about us.

14. People who go through a stressful situation can return to normal quicker if they spend time with a friend.

15. From around the age of 9 months we can recognize friendships, even between strangers.

16. Loneliness is becoming a major problem. In America they ran a study asking adults the number of confidants they had. It turned out the most common answer was 0.

17. It’s thought to get the most out of the benefits of friendship you need between 3 and 5 close friends.

18. 25 years ago the number of best friends an adult had was 3. Now it’s down to just 2.

19. 26% of teenagers have ended up having a real life conflict with a friend over something that was said online.

20. A friendship has a much better chance of lasting if both participants feel like they’re getting as much out of the relationship as they’re putting it.

21. Friendships are stronger when you know how each other reacts in different situations. Knowing what irritates your friends and how they’ll react to things is just as important as knowing what they like.

22. Falling in love with someone on average results in the loss of 2 close friends.

23. If one person in a group of friends is able to quit smoking, there’s a 36% chance that other members in the group will go and quit it too.

24. The strongest friendships are formed between the ages of 18-26

25. The average number of best friends is 5. But when you get into a relationship this drops to four (the partner included)

26. Loneliness, having no friends or people you can go to is bad for your health. It could be just as detrimental to your wellbeing as smoking or being overweight.

27. The majority of teens using social media (68%) have experienced some form of online drama with a friend.

28. Children aged 6-7 are only able to keep about half of their school friends from the fall through to spring.

29. Humans aren’t the only animals able to form lifelong friendships. It’s been witnessed in chimpanzees, horses, elephants, dolphins and baboons too.

30. Women consider friendships more important than men do.

31. Time invested in a friendship can have a direct effect on the value and longevity of a relationship.

32. Over the next 7 years it’s likely you’ll only be friends with 30% of the people in the network you currently have.

33. Lifestyle choices of people in a friendship can effect the choices of the others. If one person decides to start getting fit and healthy, there’s a higher chance others in the group will make similar changes.

34. Most people struggle to accurately identify which people have truly earned a place in their circle of friends.

35. Men have a tendency to overestimate the opinions their female friends have of them.

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