Yes that seems like it – not everybody though. And then there are people who seem (or pretend) to be nice, but still underneath seem to have a hidden agenda. I am terrible at seeing that, i am too trusting.
I don’t know if those nice people are in the minority or not. That probably depends on who you are lucky or unlucky to have around you. Perhaps we can also learn to change that, to start to appreciate the nice people more, and maybe they will stay around us easier?
(but that’s maybe just me, i tend to push the nice people away and stay close to the ill-meaning ones)

I don’t know about animal instinct.. Perhaps.. People who do that probably are also just not secure in themselves… just like us. And try to cover it up in that way.

What you say about the magnet.. the good thing is that we can learn to change it. We learn to act differently with more self-regard and people will treat us differently. Easier to write than to do, but people have done it before us, so we’ll manage as well. One day 🙂