On what basis do we connect with people? Why do we like or dislike ‘em?

As emotional beings we connect with people emotionally; we hardly ever think about the reasons for our involvements. We know very little about this world, and more so, about the people we connect with. We seldom ask why they love us? Why they hate us? Why they respect us? Or why they treat us the way they do?

Each one of us lives in his/her world that is built on perceptions, where we prioritize people and decide who to love or hate. Perhaps this shouldn’t have mattered if those private worlds does not influence our world. Unfortunately or fortunately, they do, as these worlds cannot exist in isolation; the connections to the other worlds are inevitable. I wouldn’t dig into socio-psychological or metaphysical theories and observations made by the learned; however I would put forward the thoughts that are occurring to me.

Let us inquire about on what basis we perceive people and how rational are we in doing so. I could think of the following factors that help us perceive people.

Pre-conceived Ideas—we construct a personality image (or drawing a connection) listening to the stories or gossips about a person even before seeing / hearing the person. Gossips or stories either can build his /her image or can destroy it; sadly, truth is irrelevant here.

Physical Appearance— I believe, it is the biggest of all the influences because we tend to instantly like or dislike based on his/her appearance. However, during a course of time the perception would change. More often than not, physical appearances are deceptive.

Social judgment— some people enjoy the acceptance or praise of the society, some do not, and some face the wrath due to which the way we perceive is influenced. It is not necessary that the way a group of people perceives is right.

Observed Attitude—this is the strongest of all the influences. For, we go beyond the above-mentioned factors while perceiving a person; we observe a persons portrayed characters in action. Here the question is how anyone would validate the portrayed character. As, we wear masks so skillfully; we portray ourselves differently at home, at office, when we are with friends and so on.
Perhaps, as we grow up we would choose some or one of the above factors more than other factors and create our world.

Not fully convinced by the above factors, for, they are not all. I am force to think about a factor that is beyond the above, which is highly intuitive, instantaneous, and comes naturally to us that help us to decide whether to like or dislike a person. I don’t know if it exists. If there is no such a factor then, how can we explain those crushes, why do we fall for one person so intensely without even knowing the person properly?.......why that person suddenly becomes the main concern. . .Perhaps, we are in a quest to find a world that can come into ours; and the slightest possibility we see we succumb.

Well, I really don’t think I alone can comprehend how we perceive or on what basis we like or dislike other worlds… Please put forward your own theories on the subject in comments.