Lowery of Stanford Graduate School of Business. “If we had to come up with an image of our sense of self, it would be this nugget, an almost magical core inside that emanates out and causes what we can see and observe about people and ourselves,” says Chu, who published the paper with Brian S. The findings were published in the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Chu discovered that when someone believes an essence drives their interests, likes, and dislikes, they assume it’s the same for others, too if they find someone with one matching interest, they reason that person will share their broader worldview. He found one crucial factor was what psychologists call self-essentialist reasoning, where people imagine they have some deep inner core or essence that shapes who they are.

In a series of studies, Charles Chu, a BU Questrom School of Business assistant professor of management and organizations, tested the conditions that shape whether we feel attracted to-or turned off by-each other. Charles Chu says his research has plenty of uses in the business world, from managing staff to making deals.

What makes us who we are