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The Science Behind Romantic Love

Romantic love is a social ritual found in most human cultures that involves biological and biochemical components. Anthropologists have identified four key characteristics of rituals that are present in romantic love: face-to-face contact between partners, a focus on the couple as a shared object or activity, promotion of mutual emotion, and use of symbols to represent the relationship. Research shows romantic love follows three phases influenced by different hormones - initial attraction influenced by testosterone and estrogen, feelings of being in love driven by dopamine and PEA, and long-term commitment associated with endorphins and oxytocin that promote attachment and security. While some resist the idea that love is biochemical, recent studies indicate brain chemistry plays a role in the emotions

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Alexandre Sette
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798 views2 pages

The Science Behind Romantic Love

Romantic love is a social ritual found in most human cultures that involves biological and biochemical components. Anthropologists have identified four key characteristics of rituals that are present in romantic love: face-to-face contact between partners, a focus on the couple as a shared object or activity, promotion of mutual emotion, and use of symbols to represent the relationship. Research shows romantic love follows three phases influenced by different hormones - initial attraction influenced by testosterone and estrogen, feelings of being in love driven by dopamine and PEA, and long-term commitment associated with endorphins and oxytocin that promote attachment and security. While some resist the idea that love is biochemical, recent studies indicate brain chemistry plays a role in the emotions

Uploaded by

Alexandre Sette
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SCIENCE OF LOVE Anthropologists had identified romantic love in almost every culture, for instance, one recent study

showed 147 out of 166 cultures have some form of romantic love. They suggest that romantic love is partially biologically based. There is also a social science to romantic love. Anthropologists describe romantic love as a high intensity social ritual. A ritual been described as a prescribed form of conducting a formal ceremony. Following in love does have the four major characteristics of a ritual. The first characteristic of a ritual is the face-to-face contact, clearly romantic love does this. People who are in love wants to spend as much time as they can together as possible. The second characteristic of a ritual is that focuses people attention on some common object or activity, in romantic love the common object is the couple itself. One characteristic of people who are in love is that they are attached to the object of their love. The third characteristic of a ritual is that promote mutual emotion among participants. Obliviously, romantic love qualifies here. This is why romantic love is described as a high-intensity ritual. The final characteristic of a ritual is the symbols. For example, love is associated with heart-shaped objects and rings. For instance, a ring symbolizes a couple in love commitment. Acts as using the ring. People must be careful with any symbols of love that they receive. Recently research indicates there is a biochemical basis to love. People in love feel different emotions, the body chemicals make them feel the way they feel. Brain chemical can enhance mutual feelings of attraction between two people. We can break the process of falling in love into three very distinct phases. Specific hormones and chemicals are dominant in each phase of love. In the first phase, the hormones testosterone and estrogen are very important. Over testosterone is very potential as a male hormone. It has many effects on the brain. One of which is to make a seek partners into the alert of a presence of possible partners. For instance, people be in alert to a prospective partner to fall in love with. Is in the second phase when people have feeling of being in love. Here some powerful amphetamines are released into the brain. Amphetamines are stimulants that make people feel alert. Amphetamines also cause feeling of pleasure and excitement. Amphetamines are dopamine and PEA. Dopamine has a physical effect on our bodies, it increase the heart rate and the blood pressure, and makes people more talkative. It also has a powerful psychological effect, invoking feelings of pleasure and excitement. PEA is a neurotransmitter, which means increase the electrical signals between the neurons and the brain. It makes people feel euphoric, is the chemical that make us smile a lot, it makes people feel in a kind of heavenly world. Because she got a development in tolerance to PEA the euphoric feelings gradually disappear. Our body develops a tolerance to some hormones over time.

In the final phase of love many brain chemicals are secreted. It concerns in the commitment and attachment. Endorphins is a natural painkiller, sensation of security, it makes people feel peace and calm. Basically improves the mood. Oxytocin is known as the cuddle chemical because it produces feeling of attachment to another person. Oxytocin produces the feeling of relax and satisfaction. There is some resistance to the idea that love is determined by brain chemistry.

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