What is love?

[Sunner]

Just curious, what exactly is love in a scientific conext?
Everything is after all based on our basic needs and instincts, in this case to mate and reproduce, so what process in the human nature governs "love"?
Is it really just about phermones, or is there something more to it?

Or, is love just one of those silly things that have grown out of our modern society where procreation isn't done so much out of necessity as it is from the desire to start a family, get a dog, have 2.3 children, and so forth?

 

[MobiusPizza]

There isn't a process to govern love. It's hard-coded in our genetic material. It serve as our basic social "needs" like hunger. Love is the natural evoluted way for reproduction, and for survival.

Love is broad, you love your family, you love your friends, and you love your other half. Friendship is important in many spieces in survival. Teamwork is important. While relational love is solely for reproduction. The love to your children is ensure that they are successful as a new generation, and are protected from harm voluntarily by you.

A brilliant piece of work from nature.

I don't think it's just a by-product of human intelligence. Many animals, even birds; regardless of intelligience level, have this kind of behaviour.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: AnnihilatorX
There isn't a process to govern love. It's hard-coded in our genetic material. It serve as our basic social "needs" like hunger. Love is the natural evoluted way for reproduction, and for survival.

Love is broad, you love your family, you love your friends, and you love your other half. Friendship is important in many spieces in survival. Teamwork is important. While relational love is solely for reproduction. The love to your children is ensure that they are successful as a new generation, and are protected from harm voluntarily by you.

A brilliant piece of work from nature.

I don't think it's just a by-product of human intelligence. Many animals, even birds; regardless of intelligience level, have this kind of behaviour.

Well, I was referring to love as in "I wanna marry him/her and have kids" type love
What I'm really asking for is something more specific, for example in some movie(can't remember which one right now) someone says "Technically it's the same thing as eating large amounts of chocolate", ie a chemical reaction.

Now of course if that were true you'd probably be seeing guys buying chicks chocolate bars instead of drinks, but still the chemical reaction part make sense to me.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Yes. Humans, animals, bacteria are all chemical reactions.
The fact you can move, think is because of the chemical reactions. There's nothing more than chemical reaction is life.

So saying love, feelings are chemical reactions is of course correct.
But this type of "reactions" is not well understood by scientists. Human brain especially is very complicated. There are research that using Magnetic brain scanning devices can review which part of the brain is active in love and relationships remotely. We however cannot open up a person's brain and study reactions in detail. We know that nervous system, endocrine system both play a part in love.

Recent research said that when a women is deeply in love with a man she secrets male hormone, and a man deeply in love with a women secrets less male hormone. So the men become more fermine and the women become more manly. An ironic fact, it's nature's way of dealing with male and female differences so that the happy couple can be more like each other to help the relationship progress.

See the newscientist article

 

[theMan]

it seems strange, but doesnt that mean the if you dont wear deordorant and dont shower, more hormones will be given off and attract people?

 

[MobiusPizza]

Yes. But if you don't shower, the scent of hormone would be overshaded by bad odours lol

Some women are attracted to the sweat of male because of the chemical and hormone in the sweat. But not all women do pick up these from the odour of sweat.

 

[Sunner]

Ok, so in the end it's all chemistry and not some arbitrary "modern age" thing

 

[theMan]

yep

 

[denmalley]

You hear people who are in love often say "its the way he/she makes me feel when I'm with them." We have an addiction to certain emotions, and when someone does a good job at bringing about these emotions, we "fall in love" with that person. The problem comes when people enter a relationship and do not do what comes naturally to them, but instead cater to the other person's needs. Eventually we revert to our natural sense of being, and that's when, as they say' "the honeymoon is over."

 

[JDCentral]

"What is love? Baby don't hurt me!! don't hurt me... no more!"

 

[PoopyPants]

Originally posted by: denmalley
You hear people who are in love often say "its the way he/she makes me feel when I'm with them." We have an addiction to certain emotions, and when someone does a good job at bringing about these emotions, we "fall in love" with that person. The problem comes when people enter a relationship and do not do what comes naturally to them, but instead cater to the other person's needs. Eventually we revert to our natural sense of being, and that's when, as they say' "the honeymoon is over."

Very well spoken Sir.

Love. thats one of the great wonders of mankind. What is love.

Love is a physical feeling, its a mental state, its pain, its pleasure, its tranquility.
The person who mentioned an addiction to feelings or how someone makes us feel, that being love. that too is also a good way to think of it.

Love is different for each of us.
Some look at it as how you feel when your with someone.
Some say its how they feel when they are away from them.
Some say its all in the mind. But that friends is a lie. Love, when only a mental thing is nothing more than "cold heartedness" its people blocking the physical emotional feelings.

love is many things.
Its makes you do things for that other person when you wouldn't do the same for others.
Love is giving, unselfishly of yourself to another.
Love is not jealous or angry. although at times if you didnt love someone you wouldnt be jealous or angry, but there is a fine line between the 2.
Love is a feeling that explodes at the peek of an orgasm. When you hit that high spot that no one else has made you hit, and its only because of the emotional attachment that you share with that person.

i could go on for a very long time but ill let other share their opinions.