Saying you are fond of someone might make you actually like that person, according to a study in the October 2011 issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes. Psychologists showed 39 students a series of photographs of people who had been previously judged as neither pleasant nor unpleasant and instructed them to say the word “likable” or “unlikable” while viewing each one. Later, the students saw the pictures again in a random order and expressed how they felt about every person. They said they liked people 17 percent more often when they had previously been told to say “likable” compared with when they had said “unlikable.” The study used a method that has been shown to circumvent any conscious memories of which image went with which label; the subjects truly seemed to feel more warmly toward those they called likable. The results are something to consider the next time you politely say you like your boring dinner date or noisy office mate.

This article was published in print as "I Really Like You."

This article was originally published with the title I Really Like You.

7 Comments

1. 1. JamesDavis 10:14 AM 3/11/12

   I am glad that you said, "might make you actually like that person", because that seldom ever happens. If you do not like that person because you find something about them that is contrary to your standard, even if you said they are likeable when you saw their photo, doesn't mean that you will ever like them until they change being contrary to your standards, and changing your standard to comply with someone else is very difficult to do; that's probably why your success was a very low 17%.

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2. 2. geojellyroll 12:16 PM 3/11/12

   A good lesson in life. We fill in unknown criteria about an individual using our life experience. 'Likeable' triggers more positive 'filler'.

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3. 3. Bops in reply to geojellyroll 09:59 PM 3/11/12

   This article is full of you know what.
   I may not find a person's face attractive, but it's the traits that forms my oppinon.

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4. 4. WaterWing 03:00 PM 3/14/12

   Seems to me we're all being mass-manipulated by the 'likes' (and the likes) of Facebook

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5. 5. MosquitoDope 07:46 PM 3/14/12

   The study does not show that saying "likable" is effective. The subjects were INSTRUCTED to say "likable/unlikable" -- thus, their subsequent liking of certain photos may have been due to the power of suggestion, even though they may not have consciously remembered the suggestions. Whether SELF-SUGGESTION that someone is likable works equally well (without an experimenter or other authority figure--or even peer--that one wishes to please) cannot be determined from this experiment.

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6. 6. Andira 07:59 PM 3/14/12

   Liking someone is obviously a pre-language response. It is only when one reflects upon likes and dislikes, and tries to rationalize them, that language enters the picture. Consider also sympathy.

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7. 7. rwstutler 01:49 AM 3/15/12

   Yet another example demonstrating that 'believing is seeing'. What we already believe, know, or feel - what our 'worldview' is, determines how we identify and relate to the things (and people) we encounter in that world.

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