Do we attract like-minded individuals?

I've been putting some thought into this as I go through different forums and argue with different people. One thread in particular was about how people you know react to a specific conspiracy. I noticed a common theme. Everyone seemed to only know people who agreed with them on the subject.

Would it be far-reaching to say that as social organisms we attract other organisms that think alike? After all, those who think differently don't often become close friends.

If true, how can this be applied to our reality? Should we seek out people with different opinions in an effort to understand them? Surely my reality is different than theirs if they see things so differently.

Anyway, those are my thoughts, however scrambled. Tell me what you think.

Man I hope not... because if that's the case... I'm a stark raving manipulative sociopathic lunatic...

Off to the mirror for further analysis...

Well you're example was with online personalities.
Online you can attract like minded if the topic is something you can discuss and even agree. On a message board, that's usually the case, because that's why you joined.

In real life as I refer to it, we aren't segregated into groups discussing different topics and most likely don't discuss our opinions so openly to discover we have similar thinking.

I am almost entirely isolated...

I am, therefore, nobody...who occasionally attracts one or more insane people, and has to choose between having no social life and doing crazy #...

I suck

Im sure you guys know im an over the road tanker truck driver. I meet a lot of people on the job, and have met soooo many conspiracy theorists out there that its ridiculous. It happens almost constantly like its a sign from thr beyond or something. Very strange if you consider how many conspiracy theorists are out here vs sheeple. I also randomly met a couple of people who i would call starseeds....but they didnt refer to themselves like that. But described prettt much the same feelings i have as far as not belonging here....

Originally posted by TheJourney
I am almost entirely isolated...

I am, therefore, nobody...who occasionally attracts one or more insane people, and has to choose between having no social life and doing crazy #...

I suck

Crazy #? i get drunk and race a ford deathtrap on a half mile dirt oval on a friends farm on a regular basis. You mean like that?

You choose to be friends with people who share traits that either mirror yourself, or that you admire.

reply to post by Varemia


Actually ive wondered this myself. I like to think i am, and i try to be, a likable, open minded, nonjudgemental person. I am not the most popular kid in my school but most people know me and i know most others. So far there are only two of the 1,500 people i have connected with on an intellectual scale (I know im being a hypocrite but im smarter than most of the people in my grade despite my performance). these two stand out for different reasons, they are both my best friends for very different reasons - my friend Eric has the exact same mind as me, when we get high its almost as if we're the same mind, when we're sober we still have the exact same thoughts and draw the exact same conclusions, only our thoughts seem more individual. the only difference between us really is our experiences, other than that i feel like he is the same person as me. the catch is we're opposites. he's a dick to people and very straight up, i try to be kind to those who dont deserve it and try to tell people what they'd like to hear rather than spit it in their face, we have opposite body types, families, childhood experiences, social situations... but the exact same mind, its magical

Where i am conflicted is with my other best friend, an intelligent however narrow minded, judgmental homophobe (reason enough for me to dislike him) who respects me as much as i respect him, he is nothing like me at all and we have absolutely nothing in common, save for our intentions such as university, family, zombie apocalypse (but our motives conflict). And our favourite thing to do is argue and listen to eachothers opinion.

i would seriously LOVE an explanation however biased blahblahblah because i cant draw any conclusions

I usually get along better with people much younger than me. I'm very immature.
I find most people my age to be boring. I tend to gravitate to younger people and they tend to gravitate towards me.

What it comes down to for me and this might be silly, but it's who i could tolerate being stranded on a desrt island with.

reply to post by violet


Sure, you may not be separated into groups like an internet forum, but in real life, the people that you get close to ARE the ones you have similar interests with. So it is the same, just a bit different, and even on the internet forums there are disagreements, so nothing is ever 100% the same, but the most close things/people will bond.

I don't feel I do at all.
I have increased the numbers of people whom I think live in the same realm as me, but it's still an ill fit.
I go with the flow though, since it seems to be just me, and just see what happens.

Sorry if this isn't close to what you meant....

Originally posted by Varemia
I've been putting some thought into this as I go through different forums and argue with different people. One thread in particular was about how people you know react to a specific conspiracy. I noticed a common theme. Everyone seemed to only know people who agreed with them on the subject.

Would it be far-reaching to say that as social organisms we attract other organisms that think alike? After all, those who think differently don't often become close friends.

If true, how can this be applied to our reality? Should we seek out people with different opinions in an effort to understand them? Surely my reality is different than theirs if they see things so differently.

Anyway, those are my thoughts, however scrambled. Tell me what you think.

Humans are social creatures. We form associations that create a support structure around us. If we believe a certain way we tend to gravitate toward people who also share similar views to reinforce those beliefs.

This does not mean that everyone we know will believe what we believe., We also may choose to associate with someone who doesn't share our beliefs to keep us grounded. It really depends on the individual and what they are looking for in social situations.

For me I seek out both. I don't want to be around everyone who agrees with me. To me this is not stimulating and rewarding.

When i get high?wow. Thats smart.....

Originally posted by Crocodock
i would seriously LOVE an explanation however biased blahblahblah because i cant draw any conclusions

In your case, I would say that things are slightly different. In high school, you are forced to be around a specific age group of specific people. There will naturally be people of all creeds. Once you leave high school, it's the new people you associate with that I am referring to. It took me two years, but I suddenly got upwards of 30-40 friends who think and feel in very similar ways (though I do get a little ostracized because I think like a weirdo).

Well, I did make one friend who disagrees with me on conspiracies. She threatened to kill me when we started arguing, though, so we just don't talk about that stuff.

Originally posted by AussieAmandaC
I don't feel I do at all.
I have increased the numbers of people whom I think live in the same realm as me, but it's still an ill fit.
I go with the flow though, since it seems to be just me, and just see what happens.

Sorry if this isn't close to what you meant....

I guess what I'm talking about is that it seems like the people we associate with tend to agree on most matters. Do the people who live in the same realm as you tend to agree on most subjects?

If people begin to wake up and do soul work, ask to learn their life lessons, and overcome any difficulties from our past steps and lives with others, and improve on our flaws, then yes we can attract those of our frequency. For the universal next steps after this life is a frequency match with others, based on our intentions/actions and state of being here, who we are and how we treat others.

But there are no accidents, people are in our lives to overcome differences, to be able to treat people well who do not have the same opinions, being able to be peaceful and respond well no matter what cards are dealt us. So, alot of people are not with frequency match situations but more in tests, that are more difficult.

I feel that I am somewhat attracted to like minded people who share the same hobbies, ideas, general know how, But I also find myself, attracting to me, many people I have nothing in common with, I dont know if Its because they want to learn from me, or if they are attracted to me because Im a person who will help anyone, and try and educate anyone on subjects near and dear to me, So they can use what I have told them. "Knowledge Theives" LOL actaully i dont care if someone learns from me, that just makes me feel that much better

I have no idea how to answer the title question completely, so I will just answer it truthfully.

At this point, I have no "real" friends. By "real", I mean people who are not family members.

I don't think I attract anybody, to be honest. Maybe because I don't really put myself "out there", but I just don't have an interest in most of the stuff that is popular these days, and have no interest in pretending to just to be around people.

Online, I have no clue. I don't really see myself as having friends online... I guess there are people on ATS with whom I agree about a wealth of topics, but I don't speak to anyone from ATS outside of ATS.

I'm going to really put some effort into this one; let me break this down by decades. I am female, by the way.:
First decade of my life: friends were mostly male, female friends were similar to me in that we wanted to play and see who could punch each other instead of wasting time on girly games like jump rope or hopscotch.

Second decade of my life: ended up with a lot of "friends" because I pretended to be "normal". Nobody knew the real me. I was very lonely. Males attracted to me were attracted physically, I could talk to them about the things I actually like to talk about, but they generally would start to think I was attracted to them physically, so then I'd avoid them. Homosexual male friends had similar interests to me, female friends had similar interests to me.

Third decade of my life: No friends. Recluse. Don't care about maintaining relationships because it's just too time and energy consuming; no time for drama. Focus is on my kids, who think in their own ways and I respect their thoughts. Get along much better with elderly people than anyone else. Have associates and acquaintances with whom I speak about a range of topics. All people I get along with are male. I can stand females to some degree, but leave their company as soon as they start gossiping.

Closing in on the fourth decade of my life, and I feel change coming, so I will see where that leads me.

Interesting topic!