The Study of Love
First, what’s love? Is it a collection of neurochemicals all bubbling away inside of our brains driving us crazy for that special someone? According to neuroscientists and psychologists that is exactly what it is. Science says that when we meet someone we’re attracted to our brain begins to produce greater levels of hormones. Increases in Testosterone, Estrogen, Norepinephrine, Serotonin, Dopamine, Adrenaline, Oxytocin, and Vasopressin starts the cauldron of love boiling. The first six ingredients, Testosterone, Estrogen, Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Adrenaline, and serotonin trigger lust, sexual attraction, and attachment. Oxytocin and vasopressin once added to the mix encourage bonding and maternal behavior. So is this love?
In his paper, Krishna G. Seshadri presented the argument that love according to MRI imaging is more associated with the reward and motivational centers of the brain. Thus love is a reward-driven motivation rather than an emotion. Studies show increased activity in the reward center of the brain when a subject is shown a picture of someone they find attractive. This activity correlated to increased levels of dopamine and adrenalin.
Either way Love is a very complex and traumatic experience. So much so that the Greeks in their great study of the human condition identified and defined 8 different types of love.
The Greeks Define Loves
The Ancient Greeks made a significant contribution to the understanding of man’s greatest distraction. They devoted many hours contemplating the intricacies of love identifying and classifying 8 distinct types. In the study of Love it is important to understand the variety and complexity of the topic.
- Eros – This is the passionate, fiery love of new lovers. Ancient Greeks considered Eros to be the most dangerous love in that it can elicit erratic and unpredictable behavior. This love is the inferno that burns hottest and then burns out. If nurtured and fed though it can lead to deeper more stable forms of love.
- Philia – Is next and is “Affectionate Love”. This the love we hold for friends and companions. It is a platonic love without sexual attraction.
- Agapa – This a selfless, unconditional love, without expectations. A brotherly love that accepts one’s flaws and sins while still holding a deep affection. Agapa is a spiritual, universal love like that held by Jesus or Mother Teresa for all of mankind.,
- Storge – This the love a mother hold for a child or that a brother would hold for a sister. Storage is familiar love.
- Mania – Is an obsessive love characterized by possessiveness and jealousy. Partners can often become codependent.
- Ludas – This a playful love and can go hand in hand with Eros. Ludas is characterized by flirting, teasing, and those happy butterflies in one stomach whenever you think about your partner.
- Pragma – Pragma is the enduring love of partners who have weathered life’s ups and downs together. This is a long term secure love, full of patience and compromises. It’s what Eros can become when nurtured and fed.
- Philautia – Self-love, and compassion characterize philautia. This is an unconditional affection of one’s self. You love who you are and have found inner happiness with yourself.
Love; Philosophers Stone or Witches Cauldron
Well, there is how the Ancient Greek philosophers’, defined love. So I ask you is love a mixed concoction of chemicals, pheromones, and hormones all boiling away in our brains and bodies? Then how do we differentiate between the intense passion of loving our partners and the familiar nurturing love that is a mother’s for her children?
My personal opinion is our science community might be asking the age-old question which came first the chicken or the egg. Are love and attraction an emotional state that initiates the boost in neurochemicals in the respective centers of our brain or does compatible pheromones from another individual trigger an increase in neurochemicals thus initiating the feelings of love and attraction?
