I have been experiencing something recently that I wanted to share and see if anyone else can relate to. There are some people, in rare instances, whose faces I see and I instantly feel a very strong affection towards them -- not attraction, but more like familial affection. It's like the feeling of seeing an ally, or someone you know very well, despite never having met them before. Someone that you feel like you would serve, or fight for/alongside.
I'm having trouble boiling down what the common trait is in all of these people. It is biased towards certain groups, but it does happen across races and across sexes, so it's not as simple as being attracted to those with a high degree of genetic similarity. It just feels as though I look into their eyes and I can see myself looking back. Obviously, it sounds strange put that way, but I don't know how else to describe it.
I know inbuilt physiognomic analysis is part of human nature, but what confuses me is that I don't see anyone talking about this, online or otherwise. I'm wondering whether many people are cognizant of this psychological tendency, or even to what degree they experience it at all.