This week, we’ve seen Brangelina
divorce. Honestly, I don’t really care about this couple but I genuinely feel
as though it’s blowing up my social media. In the past year, we’ve seen several
celebrities fall in and out of love as we do most years. Although it may not
seem as much because it isn’t broadcasted throughout every form of media, we do
this ourselves every year.
There are so many
times that people fall in love with life. When you see something beautiful in
the environment; meeting someone all over again; holding a baby for the first
time. In our society, the most important, is meeting your partner/soulmate. For
gen Ys, falling in love has changed significantly compared to our parents. The
dating culture has changed – we now use Tinder, we rely on more of a hookup
culture than a relationship culture, we don’t use labels. The dating process is
evolving and changing.
As an academic nerd, I
am always interested in the science (biological and psychological) and
sociology behind something. I decided to simply Google “the science behind
falling in love”. I found pages and pages of information. I stumbled across an
article by Sarah Gehrke titled Why We
Fall in Love: The Science of Love. Intrigued, I opened it. She talked about
an article published by Helen Fisher at Rutgers University that looks at the
sciences behind falling in love, particularly the psychological and chemical
processes of falling in love. They are as follows:
Stage One: Lust
Estrogen
Testosterone
Stage Two: Attraction
Adrenaline
Dopamine
Serotonin
Stage Three: Attachment
Oxytocin
Vasopressin
I decided to research
more and more into this topic, and decided to write my own article based on my scientific
findings.
Stage One: Lust
You know the term “on
the prowl”? This is what lust is. It is a stage of love fueled by the estrogen
and testosterone. Quite often, we think of testosterone as the manly hormone
but the truth is, it’s known for risk-taking and aggression. That sure does
sound like a man. Ladies, am I right? However, it also sounds very much like
someone who is just about to join Tinder, or match.com for their first time. It
also gives us the encouragement that we need to flirt, instead of relying on
liquid courage to talk to a man. In terms of estrogen, our bodies rely on it to
let our lady parts know that we’re attracted to someone.
Stage Two: Attraction
When it comes to
being attracted to someone, it’s all about adrenaline, dopamine and serotonin. Personally,
I have never acknowledged any of these neurotransmitters except adrenaline when
meeting someone. I am definitely going to be paying attention the next time
that I meet someone worth my time.
An article by Your Amazing Brain explains the
connection between falling in love and adrenaline and dopamine incredibly.
Adrenaline: “The initial stages of falling for someone activates your stress
response, increasing your blood levels of adrenalin and cortisol. This has the
charming effect that when you unexpectedly bump into your new love, you start
to sweat, your heart races and your mouth goes dry” (Your Amazing Brain, n.d.) .
Dopamine: “Helen Fisher asked newly ‘love struck’ couples to have their brains
examined and discovered they have high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
This chemical stimulates ‘desire and reward’ by triggering an intense rush of
pleasure. It has the same effect on the brain as taking cocaine” (Your Amazing Brain, n.d.) .
Serotonin: Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that offer causes to go ‘temporarily
insane’. It is connected to different mental illnesses, including depression. In
one
article, it also talks about a study completed in the 1990s in Italy about
how people who were madly in love with their partner had similar serotonin
levels as someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Stage Three: Attachment
In the stage three,
attachment, it looks at keeping someone around long enough to be considered “long-term”
and that you’d have a family with. Attachment looks at two different hormones,
oxytocin and vasopressin.
Oxytocin is the “cuddle
hormone”. Not only is known for making a couple closer after having sex, it is
also the hormone that helps mother and baby develop a bond throughout
childbearing and naturally releases milk to babies when it comes to
breastfeeding. Therefore, it is very obvious that it is a very important
hormone when it comes to building long-lasting bonds.
Vasopressin is also
known as the anti-diuretic hormone due to its connection to the kidney.
However, when it comes to relationships, it looks at the long-term and the sex
past the creation of babies. Once someone’s vasopressin is supressed or
changed, they quite often will stray (aka cheat).
Final Thoughts…
I am personally very
intrigued by this. As a social work and recreation graduate, most of my papers
throughout school were based on issues with social policies, disabilities and inclusion
problems. This was honestly really interesting to read about and research. It’s
incredible to see that there is actual scientific evidence that relates to
simple things that we often don’t blink an eyelash about, such as love. I
genuinely fear for gen Y sometimes, and how our relationships are playing out;
however, knowing that there is scientific evidence for how a partner will work
out gives me hope.
References
Gehrke, S. (n.d.). Why We Fall
in Love: The Science of Love. Retrieved from Examined Existence:
http://examinedexistence.com/why-we-fall-in-love-the-science-of-love/
Paget, S. (2011, November 11). Addicted
to Love: The Science of Falling in Love. Retrieved from Elle Canada:
http://www.ellecanada.com/life-and-love/article/addicted-to-love-the-science-behind-falling-in-love
Your Amazing Brain. (n.d.). Science of
Love. Retrieved from Your Amazing Brain:
http://www.youramazingbrain.org/lovesex/sciencelove.htm
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