Friends play an important part in our lives, and although we may take the
friendship for granted, we often don't clearly understand how we make
friends. While we get on well with a number of people, we are usually
friends with only a very few, for example, the average among students
is about 6 per person. In all the cases of friendly relationships, two
people like one another and enjoy being together, but beyond that, the
degree of intimacy between them and the reasons for their shared interest
vary enormously. As we get to know people we take into account things
like age, race, economic condition, social position, and intelligence
. Although these factors are not of prime importance, it is more difficult
to get on with people when there is a marked difference in age and background
. Some friendly relationships can be kept on argument and discussion, but
it is usual for close friends to have similar ideas and beliefs, to have
attitudes and interests in common—they often talk about "being on the
same wavelength". It generally takes time to reach this point. And the
more intimately involved people become, the more they rely on one another
. People want to do friends favors and hate to break a promise. Equally
, friends have to learn to put up with annoying habits and to tolerate
differences of opinion. In contrast with marriage, there are no friendship
ceremonies to strengthen the association between two people. But the supporting
and understanding of each other that results from shared experiences and
emotions does seem to create a powerful bond, which can overcome differences
in background, and break down barriers of age, class or race. Friends
play an important part in our lives, and although we may take the friendship
for granted, we often don't clearly understand how we make friends. While
we get on well with a number of people, we are usually friends with only
a very few, for example, the average among students is about 6 per person
. In all the cases of friendly relationships, two people like one another
and enjoy being together, but beyond that, the degree of intimacy between
them and the reasons for their shared interest vary enormously. As we
get to know people we take into account things like age, race, economic
condition, social position, and intelligence. Although these factors are
not of prime importance, it is more difficult to get on with people when
there is a marked difference in age and background.