Humans are extraordinarily well-practiced at performing liking. Social functioning demands it. Professional environments require warmth toward colleagues you may feel neutral or negative about. Social norms demand friendliness toward acquaintances. Family dynamics require warmth toward relatives regardless of genuine feeling. The result is that the word “like” exists on a spectrum that runs from genuine positive regard all the way to polished performance of positive regard, and most people have no reliable way to distinguish where on that spectrum any given person actually falls. This inability to distinguish genuine liking from performed liking has significant consequences. People invest emotional energy...