The answer : physical proximity. Festinger et al. found that people were twice as likely to choose their next-door neighbors as friends as they were to choose people who lived only two units away In general, the greater the physical distance, the less likely friendships were to be formed. An interesting exception to this generalization is that people who lived next to the garbage friends. cans were disproportionately likely to be chosen as Why? Because many of their and therefore had neighbors passed by their units daily many chances to interact and form friendships.