Love is a complicated emotional experience that involves neurotransmitters and changes in bodily chemistry. It has an effect on interpersonal connections and how we relate to others. Love comes in a variety of forms, each distinct and including feelings ranging from happiness to heartache.
The theory of Love has a Trusted Source component. Although other animal groups, such as fish and birds, also develop strong social ties to aid in their survival, mammals stand out from many other animal groups due to their strong attachment links. Four categories of mammalian attachment ties are described in a 2017 review as follows: Peer relationships and parent-infant relationships Conspecific connections, or ties between members of the same species, and pair bonds, in which people establish a strong, enduring social bond These categories encompass the majority of human love experiences. Peer bonds include, for instance, the affection you have for a close buddy. One kind of pair bond is a love relationship. It may begin as a mutual attraction and develop over time.
Love according to the triangle hypothesis Dr. Robert Sternberg, an American psychologist, proposed the three realms of love in 1986. intimacy on an emotional level dedication (mental) passion (physical) In Sternberg's still-in-use triangular theory of love, each domain stands for a triangle corner.Reliable Source to aid scholars in comprehending the intricacies of love. According to the domains involved, the theory explains seven distinct types of love. Below, we examine these forms of love.
A variety of relationship forms are covered under Sternberg's triangular theory's seven sorts of love.
There is no physical passion or commitment, yet you share emotional intimacy. This is the case with friendship.
The essential element of infatuation is passion. Infatuation is when you are physically drawn to someone but haven't formed an emotional bond or made a commitment.
Sternberg refers to a committed relationship devoid of intimacy or passion as "empty love." An planned marriage or a once-emotional or physical relationship that has lost its flame are two examples.
You have a strong emotional bond with your family or best friends. If the passion is gone, marriages can still be companionate as long as the commitment and emotional connection are shared.
This type of love occurs when you are swept up by passion into an engagement or marriage that lacks emotional closeness.
When many people think of marriage or a spousal relationship, they want to experience consummate love. Emotional connection, passion, and dedication are all components of this type of love.
Love is a feeling of intense sympathy, devotion, or affection for a person or thing. Being in the company of someone you love makes you feel good, and you are sensitive to how they respond to you. According to research by 2022Trusted Source, love originates in the brain's dopaminergic system. It has been proposed that maternal and romantic love are linked to parts of the brain that are in charge of motivation and emotional control, especially the ventral tegmental region, which is situated in the centre of the brain. Love-related emotions facilitate the development of interpersonal social ties. Since we are social beings, these organic compounds evolved to support our survival by:
But it feels like so much more. The way that love may warm your heart and enthral your soul cannot be adequately described by referring to it as a chemical exchange in the brain.
Love is more than just a way to strengthen your relationship with someone. Even your physical health may be affected. Your immune system may be impacted by love. According to a 2019 study, falling in love caused immune system alterations that resembled defence mechanisms against viral infections. According to a 2021 study, it may also protect against cancer because tissue from mice with pair bonds had a lower propensity to develop tumours than tissue from mice whose pair bonds were disrupted.
Although you may believe that you have no control on the love you experience, data from a reliable source indicates that this is not the case. Love is akin to an emotion that you may control by creating new feelings or altering the strength of existing ones. Among the techniques for emotional control are: Expression suppression: concealing your emotions Cognitive reappraisal is the process of altering your thinking to influence your emotions. Distraction: doing something else to lessen the intensity of your emotions Selecting situations: avoiding or pursuing them according to your feelings Therefore, you might be able to distract yourself from your feelings of disappointment if the love you feel isn't returned.