Friends play an important part in our lives, and although we may take 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 reason for their shared interests 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.