Filters

I found Duck’s filtering theory very interesting to read. It was easy to relate his theory to my life and it was fun to think about how I filter people into my life. I did however find that the physical proximity part true and false at the same time. The example he gave made sense to me with the houses which face inward becoming closer than the houses that did not. But the idea of that is situational as well. Also, with our world becoming a global village (as our book would call it) our proximity is not as important or relevant any more. Long distance relationships have become a lot easier than before, this I know from experience.
Thinking about the filters I use to eliminate people from consideration as potential romantic partners was fun for me. Characteristics that lead me to judge others as unattractive would be rudeness, self-centeredness, and close mindedness. I cannot stand when people are rude to others for no apparent reason, being rude is one of the biggest things one can do to make themselves ugly. To be confident and aware of yourself is good but to be all about yourself and not care for any one else is very unattractive. You may be important but you are not the only person living on this planet. And lastly I try to be as open minded as I can be so I find it very attractive for someone to be open. When people are so closed minded that they wont even listen to a different idea I find it incredibly rude which as I said before is ugly (in my eyes).
I have eliminated people before using sociological and pre-interaction cues only to reconsider them based on interaction and cognitive cues. I see now the sociological cues were due to stereotypes I had given to people from certain places. I am very happy that I was able to open my eyes and see people for who they were oppose to their sociological and pre-interaction cues because some of them are my closest friends now.