The Familiarity Effect

Back in 11th grade I took AP Psychology.  I learned lots of neat things about the brain, and I still remember quite a few of those things to this day.  But, one of the biggest things that stuck with me is psychological phenomenon called: Judging.

(Now bear with me, because in a few moments this article is going to take an unexpected turn.)

People automatically judge things within 30 seconds of seeing it.  It's been scientifically proven.  And honestly, that's okay.  Because, judging is how your brain copes with new information.  If we didn't judge things, we couldn't totally process them.

 This happens when we see new people too.  30 seconds after seeing them you've categorized them and stored it all away in their compartment.

But, science also says that the more you see someone and the more you interact with them, the more you are familiar with them.  And the more familiar you are with them, the more you actually like them.

For example, you walk into a small class and find a seat.  You happen to be sitting next to a tall boy with an extremely big nose.  Already you've judged him.  But as the class progresses, and the more you work with this boy the more you like him.  You don't see that big nose that used to bother you slightly.  Instead you see his personality.  You see the class clown that everyone likes.  You see your friend.

Now, I've stayed within the realms of proven science so far.  But, I'm going to take this principal and see if I can apply it in another direction.

You see people everyday.  In fact, you see certain people everyday for hours on end.  You are looking at them.  You have time to get familiar with their face, their size, their hair...

In fact, you grow to like who they are and what they look like.  No matter what they look like.  Because you like what your familiar with.

But, what about yourself?  You don't get that chance to get familiar with yourself.  Even if your a mirror hog, you only get at most 2 hours of exposure to your own face.  And you get even less exposure to the rest of you.

Maybe (and remember this is all theoretical- dreamed up by me.) just maybe, you don't like certain characteristics of yourself because you haven't had the time to get familiar with it.

What would happen if you spent just a few minutes each morning just looking at yourself?  Not in a critical "I am so ugly I should go see a plastic surgeon" kind of way.  But in a "this is who I am" kind of way.

They say talking in a mirror helps boost elf-esteem.  And this is kind of the same concept.  Just take a look at yourself in the mirror.  Make expressions, so that you can see what you look like when you're using those expressions.  Go ahead and talk, maybe even laugh.  That way you can see yourself and in a way interact with yourself.

As you get familiar with yourself, I hypothesize, you'll find that you like yourself more.  That you can see through the physical attributes, and that you'll begin to see the person underneath more.

Again, this is just a theory I've worked on.  And it's worked for me.  Let me know if it works for anyone else!

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