Love is hard to explain. Is it a feeling? A state of mind? Whatever you believe it is, it’s for sure, not something easy to explain. Researchers have not agreed to one specific definition, but the one used nowadays in science characterizes love not only as a basic instinct and emotion, but also a complex psychological emotional mental state which involves four dimensions.
Which are those four dimensions?
chemistry
cognition
preference/ rewarding mechanisms
intention to be with a significant other
But scientists in the biology field, believe that love is fundamentally a biological rather than a cultural construct. That is because the capacity for love is found in all human cultures and similar behavior is found in some animals too.
Everyone seeks love. But is love something you can find in a moment or do you need some time in order to find true love? If love is hard to explain, imagine how difficult it is to explain love at first sight.
Some people swear they’ve felt it, many couples start their story telling everybody that it was love at first sight how they met. But let’s get serious. Is love at first sight even possible?
Researchers from the University of Groningen studied 396 Dutch and German students, asking them to fill out a questionnaire about their current romantic relationship status, as well as looking at pictures of several potential partners they'd never met.
Cool research, right? I wish I could be part of it. Anyway, they were asked to rate their feelings towards complete strangers in front of them. Some of them were able to actually see the potential partners and spend from 20 to 90 minutes together or they would just settle at looking at some pictures. Then, they were asked whether they felt any slight feelings of love, intimacy, passion, or commitment. They also had to state whether or not they agreed with the statement: "I am experiencing love at first sight."
Findings from the study showed that only 49 times did participants experience love at first sight, either towards real people in the dating scenario or a photo. However, none of the declarations of love at first sight were from both parts.
Overall, the study concluded that love at first sight probably isn't real.
It turns out it's probably nothing to do with true love at all, but more like "lust at first sight," or an instant sexual connection or attraction to another person. While many may convince themselves, it is love at first sight they are feeling, it's more likely to describe it as a projection of current feelings to past memories.
Nevertheless, the majority of the participants seemed to believe in love at first sight even though the research did not demonstrate anything of that.
Sources:
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/economist-explains-6 http://uk.businessinsider.com/love-at-first-sight-probably-isnt-a-real-thing-heres-why-2017-11
http://www.byrdie.co.uk/love-at-first-sight-science/
Until next post…see you Steemians