Can opposite personalities get along?

When you become friends with a person, a lot of the time you end up adopting a lot of the same quirks, but can the same be said when you start out as opposites? It can be a tricky situation to be in, especially if those differences are deeper than preferring strawberry ice cream to a scoop of chocolate.

Dealing with non-starters when it come to opposing view points

Mary and Sienna discuss the sometimes awkward position people may find themselves in if they learn that their coworker or new friend believes in a set of completely different values. Even though someone doesn’t share the same ideals as you does not always mean that they are a bad person and sometimes it might be a good way to start a dialogue together.

Positives to being opposites

Sometimes there is a special harmony when two friends are complementary to each other, and a notable example would be if one friend is more introverted and the other is an extrovert. The pair can often work together to balance out the relationship because they each bring different things to the table. While the extroverted friend might help encourage the introverted friend to do new things, the introverted friend could help the extrovert learn how to enjoy time alone to relax. Opposites can be great because they can push each other out of their comfort zones, but they can also improve each other since they’re able to recognize each others’ weaknesses.

Resources

• Opposites Do Not Attract: Social Status and Behavioral-Style Concordances and Discordances Among Children and the Peers Who Like or Dislike Them via the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.
• When do opposites attract? Interpersonal complementarity versus similarity via the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
• Why Your Best Friend Should Be Your Opposite via Elite Daily.

Tune in next week for Episode 19: Are You My BFF?

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Hosted by Mary Akemon and Sienna Mooney
Produced by Alex Papworth
Music by Max Wallace
Episode illustration by Maddy Vian