What is love scientists. What is love scientifically? Married couples often share the same DNA

On the tomography of the brain of a person in love, it can be seen that the zones responsible for the reward system are excited in him. This is explained by the action of the hormone dopamine, which causes a feeling of pleasure. So the brain reacts to a potent narcotic substance - cocaine. At the same time, at the beginning of the appearance of a feeling, the level of dopamine rises very strongly, and then falls below normal, which can cause depression. Since love feelings are similar in effect to cocaine, unrequited love can be cured. This is done as in the case of drug addiction: all reminders and incentives are removed from a person’s life, and the empty space is filled with something new, for example, another hobby or an interesting hobby. In animals that bind themselves in long-term relationships, biologists distinguish stages of desire, infatuation, and affection in their union. Desire is explained by basic needs, passion for fixation on a particular object, and thanks to attachment, animals develop a strong bond when they are ready to breed and raise offspring for a long time with one individual. Human love is scientifically similar to animal infatuation. She appeared with the aim of procreation and helps to save effort, not to waste her energy, but to achieve only one partner. It is believed that the feeling of love lasts from 1.5 to 3 years, and then it is replaced by mutual respect, habit. Such a period guarantees the participation of the father in the most difficult time of raising a child. In some cases, for example, during separation, strong love feelings can last longer. No wonder it is believed that love is also blind. German scientists have found that a person in love turns off brain areas responsible for rational thinking and negative emotions. In lovers, the level of serotonin is greatly reduced, the control system is turned off. Because of such chemical changes in the body, some people go to crime, suicide, so some scientists are inclined to think that unhappy feelings should be treated with pills. Treatment should be aimed at increasing the amount of serotonin in the body, modern antidressants successfully cope with this. Strong changes in the environment can save fading love. In response to them, the brain receives an increased dose of all dopamine, so dating in a romantic setting, relaxing together can save a falling apart relationship. From a scientific point of view, love is very different for representatives of different sexes. A man really loves with his eyes, as the lover increases the activity of those parts of the cerebral cortex that are responsible for vision. But for women, love is associated with memory, so she remembers the behavior of her partner, analyzes the information received and draws conclusions about the possibility of further building relationships.

Man in many of his manifestations is an irrational being, especially when it comes to emotions and feelings: sometimes they are not so easy to justify from a logical point of view. If we talk about such a complex phenomenon as love, then the law of cause and effect completely ceases to work, because the state of love is too complex and multifaceted to be sorted out, which is called “brick by brick”.

Nevertheless, experts do not stop trying to explain love passion with chemical reactions, animal instincts, or, say, social patterns. The following are eight sayings of scientists in which they express their vision of love.

1. "Love is like thirst" - Lucy Brown, a neurologist from the Medical College. A. Einstein, New York, NY

The experience of a lover is like a feeling of thirst, which can only be quenched by the presence of the object of passion. All thoughts, actions, aspirations - everything suddenly obeys the desire to be near the beloved (or beloved). Of course, everyone has their own temperament, and everyone expresses romantic feelings in different ways, but any person, falling in love, experiences a state similar to euphoria, and it occurs only in the presence of the "second half".

After studying the brain activity of several couples in love using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we came to the conclusion that when lovers are together, or think about each other, they activate areas of the brain that are also responsible for feeling the joy of any reward. or recognition, and in terms of strength this feeling is quite comparable to thirst or hunger. We can say that falling in love is part of the reproductive mechanism inherent in us by nature itself: it contributes to the establishment of strong emotional ties between sexual partners and thus increases the chances of having children.

2. “Love is like having someone in your head.” - Helen Fisher, Anthropologist at Rutgers University, New Jersey

There are different types of love, but I think there are three main types of it: sexual attraction, falling in love, and deep affection. My colleagues and I have been studying the functioning of the brain of lovers for a long time, one of our experiments involved 60 men and women aged 18 to 57 years old, whom we examined using MRI, analyzing the main manifestations of romantic feelings.

The first thing a person begins to experience when he falls in love is a certain feeling of “speciality” and “uniqueness” of everything connected with the object of love - his (or her) clothes, car, street, whatever. The lover begins to focus on his passion in everything: he mopes when he (she) does not call and “shines” with happiness when the relationship is getting better.

The state of falling in love is also characterized by increased heart rate, increased sweating and a physiological state, which is also called "butterflies in the stomach." This is due to an increase in the production of the hormone dopamine, which causes delight in a person, a surge of energy and encourages action - these sensations can be compared to the fact that someone who has settled right in the head constantly calls to run somewhere, take action, and all for the sake of the three most main words: "I love you."

I believe that love serves for more reliable reproduction of offspring: it forces us to focus all our attention on one partner and not scatter on casual sex.

3. "Love as a building material" - Daniel Krueger, psychologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michiga

Love is a positive experience that contributes to the establishment of stable social ties and the formation of stable relationships and, as a result, facilitates the creation of a family as a fundamental unit of society. Without it, we would more often act solely from our own short-term selfish motives and considerations of personal gain, which would inevitably affect the situation in society.

The feelings we have for loved ones strengthen long-term relationships, which in turn has a positive effect on the birth of socially protected children. Love allows people to take care of offspring until they become independent, and this, it seems to me, is its main socially significant function.

4. “Love expresses itself as an insistence on caring.” - David Givens, Director of the Center for Non-Verbal Studies, Spokane, Washington

First of all, love is an emotion, a feeling of affection and devotion that a person feels towards someone or something. An ardent passion can be stronger, for example, love for family members or even for one's own children, or it can be expressed only in sexual desire.

Love originates in the same part of the brain as maternal affection, the desire to take care of offspring, so I believe that it developed from the maternal instinct. The fact that lovers feel the need to care for each other, help and support in everything confirms this.

5. "Love is sex" - Luis Garcia, professor of psychology at Rutgers University

Science knows a lot of evidence that sexuality plays a very important role in relationships. A number of studies show that satisfaction with intimate life directly affects, for example, overall impressions of marriage, in addition, according to the results of our experiments, a person who lives a fulfilling sex life is more likely to find long-term and fruitful relationships.

Together with a colleague, Dr. Charlotte Markey, we interviewed several couples who have lived together for quite a long time - in a civil marriage or registered, it does not matter. It turned out that one of the main incentives in living together was their sexual attraction to each other. Also, intimate life, and hence feelings, is positively affected by rich sexual experience, and if partners have it about the same, their union has every chance of being happy for many years.

6. "Love is unthinkable without respect" - Keith Wax, psychologist, author of Relationships for Dummies

There is no love without mutual respect and trust. Lovers try to show their best side, so successful relationships always consist of honesty, fidelity, emotional support and self-sacrifice. Love gives each a sense of their uniqueness and forces them to accept the uniqueness of the other: each believes that if his partner is well with him, it is necessary to take measures so as not to destroy the delicate balance. Therefore, any loving person strives to defend the interests of his "second half" and satisfy her needs.

I believe that the feeling opposite to love is not hatred, but indifference: if you stop worrying about a person and do not feel the need to take care of him, this indicates a loss of respect, which means there can be no talk of love.

7. "Love is a long-term relationship" - Stephanie Ortig, neuroscientist at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

Everyone knows what love is, but no one can give a clear agreed definition. In my interpretation, I use the results of my psychological research and neuroimaging of the brain of lovers. In my opinion, love is a complex positive and motivating mental state, characterized by the desire for unity with a certain person. This state includes a number of chemical, emotional and cognitive processes.

If, when communicating with a partner, activity of certain sections of neurons is observed, this indicates the presence of love, and we do not know any evidence that love cannot last as long as you like, but the problem is that it is influenced by too many factors, the change of which is sometimes impossible to predict . However, if we consider love as an established affectionate attitude towards someone, such types of love as maternal and paternal, love of children for parents and love between sexual partners fall under this definition.

8. "Love as a historical constant" - Stephanie Kunz, historian at Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington

People have been falling in love throughout their history, but passionate romantic feelings, until relatively recently, were not considered a worthy basis for a relationship, let alone marriage. Most of them got married and got married, obeying the will of their parents, who, as a rule, took into account only mercantile considerations when choosing a life partner for their son or daughter.

The situation began to change in the 19th century - love began to play a much more significant role in family relationships. People had to rediscover their attraction to the opposite sex and recognize that love must be at the heart of any successful marriage. I believe that in our time, spouses and lovers should feel for each other not only love passion, but also friendly feelings. The combination of love and friendship will provide partners with a long, happy and fruitful relationship.

: psychologists, philosophers, biologists, chemists and even psychiatrists, but so far no one can give her an exact definition. What is love from a scientific point of view, many researchers are trying to understand, but the results almost always turn out to be ambiguous, causing lengthy disputes and discussions.

Biochemistry of feelings

The scientific definition of love, as a chemical reaction of the body, was discovered by biochemists, indicating a rather complex formula. From a chemical point of view, love is a special reaction, the exact formula of which is clear only to specialists. They argue that the feeling arises due to the release of the substance dopamine - the hormone of joy. However, this interpretation raises many questions because:

• a chemical reaction does not distinguish between such feelings as lust, falling in love, passion - the same substances are excreted by the body, but the depth of sensations is different;
• the formula is the same for creativity and love (many images are inspired by unrequited feelings);
• some researchers believe that feelings are an irrational concept and cannot be entered into chemical and mathematical formulas.

Therefore, love, as a feeling, cannot be explained from a chemical point of view, since by combining the elements of matter it is difficult to show all the nuances of emotions and distinguish love from other experiences similar to it. The philosophical definition of this feeling is also considered quite confusing for understanding love. Many researchers believe that love is an immensity in the world of measures. However, this definition also raises many questions for those who are not familiar with philosophy.

More precisely and more modernly, one of the prominent psychotherapists of our time, M. E. Litvak, gives the formulation of love:

“Love is an active interest in the life and development of the object of love.”

This concept corresponds to recognized scientific standards, as well as the provisions of practical psychology. That is why this formulation is considered one of the most modern.

What is love from a scientific point of view in psychology

The definition given by Litvak makes it possible to distinguish this wonderful romantic feeling from such definitions as falling in love, sympathy and thirst for love, longing and tenderness. Here is the exact interpretation of the concept described by M. E. Litvak in his books.

Interest can be passive or active. Passive - these are dreams, dreams. It is characteristic of sympathy, a thirst for love and falling in love, although some people in this state become active and seek the object of their sympathy. However, falling in love, unlike love, means an urgent need to be together, physical attraction and tenderness. It is selfish (desire to be loved), not sacrificial, unlike love. There is no genuine care, sacrifice, desire to correctly assess their capabilities and contribute to the development of their object of love in it.

Litvak shares love not only as concern for the well-being and development of others, but also for his own. Self-love becomes the base in such a situation. It is expressed in the formula: active interest in one's own life and development. This means that a person takes steps to become better, grows, works on himself, creates conditions for himself for a happy life. With this approach, he sees and feels the desires of a loved one, creating conditions for their implementation. And he can even give up his own desire to be with his beloved if he sees that a loved one will feel bad with him. That is why true love is completely uncharacteristic of jealousy, aggression, the desire to suppress and subordinate someone to one's desires.

Litvak writes about what beautiful love is from a scientific point of view in his books and contemporary literature. And, contrary to popular belief, this is not romance and passion at all. Yes, they also take place, but the very definition of love is not in them. He emphasizes that you can only buy affection, but not a genuine deep feeling. Modern love from a scientific point of view is also a helping hand in a difficult situation (but not to the detriment of oneself), friendship, in which there is attraction, the desire for procreation, sexual contact, trust and tenderness.

It is this opinion that modern specialists in practical psychology adhere to today, who also work with married couples. They allow you to resolve various family conflicts and try to bring the couple to a common solution.

And yet, not a single scientific definition of love contains a general formula that reflects dreams under the moon, a million flowers from a loved one, his tenderness and passion, as well as the smile of his beloved woman, for whose happiness he is ready to give everything. And not a single definition of what true love is from a scientific point of view can convey all the facets of this wonderful feeling.

Many people are interested in the question of what love is. Scientists, writers, sociologists look at this feeling differently, so each of them offers his own definition of what love is.
At present, science has developed fairly stable ideas about how a feeling is born and what happens in the human body. Although much remains unclear, scientists nevertheless tried to explain this most complex human emotion, using knowledge about the activities of various organs and systems, conducting observations and studies, including laboratory ones. Having become acquainted with the results of the research of specialists, one can understand what love is from a scientific point of view.

What happens in the body under the influence of feelings of love
In the body of a person who is under the influence of a feeling of love, certain changes occur that affect many organs and systems. These changes, which occur “vertically”: from the brain to the heart and from the heart to the brain, are manifested both externally and internally. The consequence of these changes is euphoria - a special emotional state that can be described by such signs as:
- enthusiastic attitude towards people and the world,
- joy, often inexplicable,
- an all-consuming feeling of happiness.

Scientists explain the appearance of such a state primarily by the fact that specific chemicals are actively produced in the body of a person in love. The most significant in this regard is phenylethylamine, which affects the centers of the brain responsible for the logical thinking and actions of a person. As a result of such influence, the behavior of people in love, as a rule, is difficult to explain from the point of view of reason and logic.
Phenylethylamine stimulates the central nervous system, due to which the activation of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, occurs. This is one of the chemical factors that contribute to the "encouragement" of the brain, as it causes a feeling of pleasure. Dopamine production increases when a person experiences positive emotions, which, of course, includes love. Obviously, such moments in a person's life are described with the help of a stable turn of speech - "to be in seventh heaven with happiness."
What a person experiences affects certain hormones, changing their levels. Emotional stress, excitement, heart palpitations are explained by an increase in the level of hormones such as adrenaline and norepinephrine.
The answer to what love is can be supplemented by such a fact as the strengthening of the figurative perception of the world in lovers, the manifestation of poetic abilities, and the expansion of the possibilities of imagination. This is due to the fact that the feeling of love, especially the first love, activates the nerve growth factor (NGF in the scientific literature) - one of the four neurotrophins that, according to scientists, affects life expectancy and increases the mental abilities of a person.
All these facts expand the understanding of what love is, while the definition of love is specified and concretized.

The most vivid impressions and emotions come to people when they love, madly in love. And in this state of falling in love, a substance with an interesting name is produced in the human brain. phenethylamine, it is also called the substance of love". At this moment, it seems that you have grown wings, that you are ready for absolutely any feat. And this happens because this love drug affects the logical centers of consciousness, so all subsequent actions of such a person cannot be rationally explained. Probably everyone who has ever experienced the love of a person has a story about such reckless actions that he did during his love ...

Scientists studying the mechanisms of depression and elation have recently made significant discoveries regarding chemical compounds in the human brain called neurotransmitters. The progenitor of all neurotransmitters, the one that makes men and women go crazy, can be considered a substance called phenylethylamine, or simply PEA. The mechanism of action of PEA is as follows: the human brain is divided into separate sections, and in general it resembles a large grapefruit in size (although when a person loses his head because of love, one can safely say that his brain shrinks to the size of a pea). The first of the sections is located exactly above the spinal cord and is responsible for such instincts as the instinct for survival, the instinct for protecting the territory, etc., these are the most important instincts of human life. The next area, the limbic system, controls emotions such as anger, depression, hatred and their opposites: calmness, contentment, love. The third region, the cortex, is most similar to a ball of pasta and is what we think of when we think of the brain. This area is responsible for our thought processes.

All three of these sites are interconnected by hundreds of billions of nerve impulses (the difference varies by plus or minus a couple of billion, depending on the individual) that are transmitted from neuron to neuron. PEA is located at the endings of nerve cells and helps impulses move from one neuron to another. But there is one problem: PEA itself is a natural amphetamine that takes us to seventh heaven. Therefore, when you see a person to whom you are ready to surrender without a fight, the system that produces FEA immediately begins to overfulfill the plan. PEA flows overwhelm all parts of the brain - including the one that is responsible for rational thinking. Therefore, you not only endure the intrusion of a loved one on your own territory, but also feel (through the efforts of the limbic system) incredibly happy (or terribly unhappy, depending on the circumstances).

These are the interesting things going on in our head when we love :)

text - mine, photo - Internet)