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Romantic love (mental state)

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(Redirected from In love)

In fields of the sciences,[note 1] romantic love refers to the mental state of being passionately attracted to a specific individual, with focused attention (salience), for the purpose of courtship or pair bonding.[6][7][4] The state of romantic love is considered to be a motivation or drive, which is distinct from (but related to) the concept of attachment.[8][6][9]

Laypeople may refer to the state as "being in love".[10] A variety of other terms are also commonly associated with it.[11][6] In psychology, it is often referred to as "passionate love".[4] Other terms used to refer to it are "infatuation", "limerence", "obsessive love", and "eros".[11][6] No single term has been universally adopted by academic literature on the subject.[4]

Research on the biology of romantic love indicates that the early stage of intense romantic love resembles addiction, but academics do not currently agree on how love addictions are defined.[4][12][13]

Love which is not reciprocated is called "unrequited love".[14]

Definition

[edit]

The evolutionary anthropologists Bode and Kushnick undertook a comprehensive review of romantic love from a biological perspective in 2021. They considered the psychology of romantic love, its mechanisms, development across the lifespan, functions, and evolutionary history. Based on the content of that review, they proposed a biological definition:[4][3]

Romantic love is a motivational state typically associated with a desire for long-term mating with a particular individual. It occurs across the lifespan and is associated with distinctive cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social, genetic, neural, and endocrine activity in both sexes. Throughout much of the life course, it serves mate choice, courtship, sex, and pair-bonding functions. It is a suite of adaptations and by-products that arose sometime during the recent evolutionary history of humans.

Researchers draw distinctions between the early stage of romantic love and the "attachment system" theorized by the attachment theorists like John Bowlby.[15][9][11] In the past, attachment theorists have argued that attachment theory and attachment styles can replace other theories of love, but academics on love have argued this is incorrect and that romantic love and attachment are not identical concepts.[16][11][15] The early stage of romantic love is thought to involve additional brain systems for other purposes, with distinct evolutionary histories.[15][6][9]

Romantic attraction is also distinct from sexual attraction, although they most often occur together.[6][9][17]

Romantic love is not necessarily "dyadic", "social", or "interpersonal", despite being related to pair bonding. Romantic love can be experienced outside the context of a relationship, for example, in the case of unrequited love where the feelings are not reciprocated.[18][14] A person can develop romantic love feelings before any relationship has occurred, for only a potential partner.[18][14][6][7] The potential partner can even be somebody they do not know well or are not acquainted with at all, as in cases of love at first sight and parasocial attachments.[18][19][20]

Variation exists in the way romantic love is expressed in the population. A cross-cultural study of currently in-love people found four clusters, with varying degrees of intensity, obsessive thinking, commitment, frequency of sex, and other differences.[21] Other studies indicate romantic love can be experienced both with or without obsessional features.[22][23] Typically, intense romantic love is limited to a duration of 12–18 months or as long as 3 years, depending on the estimate;[4][12] however, in the rare phenomenon of long-term intense romantic love, some people experience intense attraction inside a relationship, even for 10 years or more. This is similar to early-stage intense romantic love, but at this later stage they exhibit less of the obsessional features.[22][23]

Components

[edit]
Passionate Encounter, by Frederick Goodall

The most common measure of romantic love is called the Passionate Love Scale, created by Elaine Hatfield and Susan Sprecher.[24][25][26] The components of passionate love according to Hatfield & Sprecher are:[27]

  1. Cognitive
    1. Intrusive thinking; preoccupation with the thoughts of the partner.
    2. Idealization of the loved one and the relationship.
    3. Desire for knowledge: to know and be known by the partner.
  2. Emotional
    1. Attraction to the other; pleasant feelings for the other when things go well.
    2. Ambivalence or negative feelings (emptiness, anxiety, despair) when things go awry.
    3. Longing for reciprocity.
    4. Desire for "complete union," permanency.
    5. Physiological (sexual) arousal.
  3. Behavioral
    1. Actions aimed at determining the other's feelings.
    2. Serving and helping the other.

Obsessive thinking

[edit]

Obsessive thinking about a loved one has been called a hallmark or a cardinal trait of romantic love,[9][28] ensuring that the loved one is not forgotten.[29] Some reports have been made that people can even spend as much as 85 to 100% of their days and nights thinking about a love object.[30] One study found that on average people in love spent 65% of their waking hours thinking about their beloved.[31] Another study used cluster analysis to find several different groups of lovers, with the least intense group spending 35% of their time on average and the most intense at 72%.[21]

Since the late 1990s, these obsessional features have been compared to obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).[15][32][33] Another theory relates obsessive thinking to addiction, because drug users exhibit obsessive thoughts about drug use as well as compulsions.[34][35]

Positive illusions

[edit]
"Crystallization" was coined by the 19th-century French writer Stendhal to refer to these positive illusions, based on an analogy where a tree branch is tossed into a salt mine. The tree branch (or twig) becomes covered in salt crystals, transforming it "into an object of shimmering beauty".[36][37][38]

People in love tend to overemphasize the positive aspects of their loved one or relationship, while overlooking or devaluing negative aspects.[37][36][4] This is regarded as a type of cognitive bias called positive illusions.[4][38][39] The phenomenon has also been referred to as crystallization,[37] idealization,[38] "love is blind" bias,[4] putting the loved one on a pedestal,[40] or seeing through rose-colored glasses.[41][42]

In the past, some authors have depicted the phenomenon as a malady, arguing that people who idealize would have their partner fall short of their high expectations as a relationship progresses; however, despite this, significant modern scientific evidence has shown that positive illusions actually contribute to relationship satisfaction, long-term well-being and decreased risk for relationship discontinuation.[38][39][37]

Emotional valence

[edit]

Rather than being a specific emotion itself, romantic love is believed to be a motivation or drive which elicits different emotions depending on the situation: positive feelings when things go well, and negative feelings when awry.[18][28][43] Reciprocated love may elicit feelings of joy, ecstasy, or fulfillment, for example, but unrequited love may elicit feelings of sadness, anxiety, or despair.[18][44]

A 2014 study of Iranian young adults found that the early stage of romantic love was associated with the brighter side of hypomania (elation, mental and physical activity, and positive social interaction) and better sleep quality, but also stronger symptoms of depression and anxiety. Those authors conclude that romantic love is "not entirely a joyful and happy period of life".[45]

The feeling of romantic love may be either pleasant or unpleasant, regardless of the intensity level.[46][47] One of Dorothy Tennov's interview participants recalls being in love this way: "When I felt [Barry] loved me, I was intensely in love and deliriously happy; when he seemed rejecting, I was still intensely in love, only miserable beyond words."[47] The intensity of love feelings is also distinct from whether an individual is satisfied with their relationship (although the measures have been shown to be related to some extent). One can be satisfied with their relationship because it fulfills some other need besides love for their partner (like money or child care), or conversely be in love with an abuser in an abusive relationship.[18]

Unrequited love is common among young adults.[14] A study by Roy Baumeister and Sarah Stillwell found that 92.8% of participants reported at least one "powerful or moderate" experience of unrequited love in the past 5 years.[48] A different study found 63% had a "huge crush" at least once in the past 2 years (but not letting the person know), and unrequited love was four times more frequent than equal love.[14] Another found that 20% had experienced unrequited love more than 5 times, according to a definition that "When one is experiencing this emotion, it has been described as having one’s emotions on a roller coaster, finding it difficult to concentrate, and thinking constantly about the person with whom you are in love. The person is said to have the power to produce extreme highs and lows of emotion in you, depending on how he or she acts towards you."[49]

Obsessive and harmonious passion

[edit]
Divine Love Conquering Earthly Love, by Giovanni Baglione.

The dualistic model of passion (DMP) is a theory invented by the psychologist Robert Vallerand which suggests that passion can be split into two components, termed "obsessive" and "harmonious" passion:[50][51][52]

  • In obsessive passion, a person's passion is driven by internal pressure, controlling them and interfering with other aspects of their life.
  • In harmonious passion, the person experiencing it retains their autonomy, and their passion is more in harmony with other life domains.

DMP has been extended to romantic passion,[50] with a study finding that harmonious romantic passion was associated with secure attachment, while obsessive romantic passion was associated with anxious attachment.[51]

The obsessive–harmonious distinction has also been compared to the distinction between two of the love styles invented by John Alan Lee: mania (obsessive) and eros (harmonious).[51] Both eros and mania correspond to concepts like romantic love,[53] passionate love,[54] and falling in love;[55] however, mania is regarded as the more obsessive of the two.[22][51]

"Limerence" is a term invented by the psychologist Dorothy Tennov to refer to the state of being in love,[56][57] particularly when it takes the form of obsessive passion.[58] Limerence and mania have been compared as being similar concepts, invented around the same time.[59]

Research on the Passionate Love Scale (PLS) by Bianca Acevedo and Arthur Aron also found that while it was intended as a unidimensional measure of love feelings, it actually has two general components (called factors): an obsession factor and a non-obsession factor.[60][52][22] The PLS obsession factor has items like "Sometimes I feel I can't control my thoughts; they are obsessively on my partner." and "An existence without my partner would be dark and dismal."[22][23] The non-obsession factor has items like "For me, my partner is the perfect romantic partner." and "I want my partner—physically, emotionally, and mentally."[22]

Acevedo & Aron also compare being in love with obsessional elements to concepts like mania and limerence, while love without obsession is compared to eros. Taken together, eros and mania correspond to the way passionate love is operationalized on the PLS.[22]

According to a meta-analysis by Acevedo & Aron, romantic love with and without obsession (using the PLS) have slightly different trajectories in a relationship. Romantic love with obsession was more associated with satisfaction in short-term relationships than long-term, whereas the associations between satisfaction and romantic love without obsession were similar and large for both short-term and long-term groups. Additionally, it was found that romantic love may sustain over a longer period than previously assumed, but without the obsessional features.[22][61] Another meta-analysis found that the mania love attitude was associated with decreased satisfaction, as it continues over time in a relationship.[62]

Neuroscience

[edit]
Dopamine is produced in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain, and projected to the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Dopamine activity in the NAc is key to the attribution of salience.[63]

Dopamine

[edit]
These paragraphs are an excerpt from Biology of romantic love § Reward, motivation and addiction.[edit]

The early stage of romantic love is being compared to a behavioral addiction (i.e., addiction to a non-substance) but the "substance" involved is the loved person.[64][65][66][67] Addiction involves a phenomenon known as incentive salience, also called "wanting" (in quotes).[68][69] This is the property by which cues in the environment stand out to a person and become attention-grabbing and attractive, like a "motivational magnet" which pulls a person towards a particular reward.[70][69] Incentive salience differs from craving in that craving is a conscious experience while incentive salience may or may not be. While incentive salience can give feelings of strong urgency to cravings, it can also motivate behavior unconsciously, as in an experiment where cocaine users were unaware of their own decisions to choose a low dose of cocaine (which they believed was placebo) more often than an actual placebo.[71] In the incentive-sensitization theory of addiction, repeated drug use renders the brain hypersensitive to drugs and drug cues, resulting in pathological levels of "wanting" to use drugs.[67][69] People in love are thought to experience incentive salience in response to their beloved. Lovers share other similarities with addicts as well, like tolerance, dependence, withdrawal, relapse, craving, and mood modification.[66]

Incentive salience is mediated by dopamine projections in the mesocorticolimbic pathway of the brain, an area generally involved with reward, motivation, and reinforcement learning.[68][69][72][73] Dopamine signaling for incentive salience originates in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and projects to areas such as the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in the ventral striatum.[74][69] The VTA is one of two main areas of the brain with neurons which produce dopamine (the other being the substantia nigra pars compacta). Projections from the VTA innervate the NAc, where dopamine activity attaches motivational significance to stimuli associated with rewards.[75] Brain scans of people in love using fMRI (commonly while looking at a photograph of their beloved) show activations in these areas like the VTA and NAc.[66][67][76] Another dopamine-rich area of the reward system shown to be active in romantic love is the caudate nucleus, containing 80% of the brain's dopamine receptor sites, located in the dorsal striatum.[66][73][77][78] The dorsal striatum is implicated in reinforcement learning,[79] and the caudate nucleus has shown activity in response to a monetary reward and cocaine.[77][80][81] This activity in reward and motivation areas suggests that early-stage intense romantic love is a motivation system or goal-oriented state (rather than a specific emotion), consistent with the description of romantic love as a desire or longing for union with another person.[77][67][73] These activations are also consistent with the similarity between romantic love and addiction.[66][67]

Oxytocin

[edit]
This paragraph is an excerpt from Biology of romantic love § Oxytocin, bonding, and attraction.[edit]

Oxytocin is sometimes called the "love hormone", because of its involvement in the mechanisms of maternal behavior and adult pair bonding. Oxytocin is synthesized primarily in an area of the hypothalamus and released into the blood via the pituitary gland, where it has been found circulating in people in the early stages of romantic love.[82][83][84] Additionally, the hypothalamus projects oxytocin to other areas of the brain, like the ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens (NAc), amygdala, and hippocampus. The projections to reward areas (VTA and NAc) are thought to modulate social salience, or i.e. the level of dopamine activity in response to socially-relevant stimuli.[82][85] This oxytocin signaling in reward pathways may also be the source of salience in response to a loved one.[85]

Opioids

[edit]
This paragraph is an excerpt from Biology of romantic love § Brain opioid theory of social attachment.[edit]

Modern research is increasingly showing the importance of endogenous opioids in love and social attachment, particularly the β-endorphin (the most potent endogenous opioid) and the μ-opioid receptor system.[83][86][87][88] While opioids have their origin being the body's natural painkiller, they're also implicated in a variety of other systems, essentially like neurotransmitters.[86][89] Opioid receptors are located throughout the brain, including in the limbic system (affecting basic emotions) and neocortex (affecting more conscious decision-making).[90] Opioids are linked to the consummatory part of reward, or i.e. "liking" or pleasure, and released in areas of the brain called hedonic hotspots (or pleasure centers). Hedonic hotspots are located in the nucleus accumbens, the ventral pallidum and other areas.[86][87][74] This function includes social reward, or the pleasurable aspect of social interactions.[86]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ The term "romantic love" has a complicated history, and several common definitions.[1][2] In biopsychology, there is a convention among the most prominent authors that the term refers to the mental state of being in love.[3][4] Other areas of psychology may use the term with other connotations, referring to culture or beliefs, for example.[1][5]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 Tallis 2005, pp. 87–88, 106: "English dictionaries distinguish 'romantic' with several definitions, but in reality, such tidy divisions are misleading. When we use the word, these different meanings bleed into each other." (p. 87); "The cultural history of 'romance' and various meanings of the word 'romantic' make it extremely difficult to define 'romantic love'. Academic psychology—usually quite pedantic about its terminology—has been unable to establish a consensus. Some psychologists use the term in accordance with its courtly origins, whereas others use it interchangeably with 'passionate love'. As a culture, we seem to have settled on the latter usage, viewing 'romantic love' and 'falling in love' as much the same thing." (p. 106)
  2. ↑ Karandashev 2017, p. xi–xiii, 14, 29, 35–38, 266: "The word romantic love is often used to distinguish from conjugal love, parental love, friendship love, and other types of close relationships. In this meaning, romantic love often assumes just heterosexual, passionate, and erotic love. Another meaning of the term romantic love differentiates it from other types of heterosexual love, the love between a man and a woman—realistic love, sexual love, etc. The key feature of romantic love in this sense is in accord with the true meaning of the word romantic, which is characterized by an idealized view of life—in this case, of love life. It is opposite to realistic, pragmatic love." (pp. xii–xiii); "According to several dictionaries, romantic love is characterized by strong affection and preoccupation with love, unrealistic and idealistic attitudes toward a partner, and the feeling l'amour toujours (French), that love will last forever and never end." (p. 14); "Many scholars over the recent decades attempted to answer the question about universality of romantic love [...]. [A] difficulty [...] was the lack of a comprehensive commonly accepted definition of romantic love." (p. 36)
  3. 1 2 Bode, Adam (2026-02-25). "Use of the term "romantic love" in the evolutionary social and behavioral sciences". Frontiers in Psychology. 17. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1716892. ISSN 1664-1078.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bode, Adam; Kushnick, Geoff (2021). "Proximate and Ultimate Perspectives on Romantic Love". Frontiers in Psychology. 12 573123. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.573123. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 8074860. PMID 33912094.
  5. ↑ Karandashev, Victor (12 March 2022). "What Is Romantic Love?". The Diversity of Love Journal. Archived from the original on 7 January 2025. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fisher, Helen E.; Aron, Arthur; Mashek, Debra; Li, Haifang; Brown, Lucy L. (2002-10-01). "Defining the Brain Systems of Lust, Romantic Attraction, and Attachment". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 31 (5): 413–419. doi:10.1023/A:1019888024255. ISSN 1573-2800. PMID 12238608.
  7. 1 2 Fisher, Helen; Aron, Arthur; Brown, Lucy (13 Nov 2006). "Romantic love: a mammalian brain system for mate choice". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 361 (1476): 2173–2186. doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1938. PMC 1764845. PMID 17118931.
  8. ↑ Smith, Dana G. (February 13, 2024). "What New Love Does to Your Brain - Roses are red, violets are blue. Romance can really mess with you". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 9, 2025. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Bode, Adam (16 October 2023). "Romantic love evolved by co-opting mother-infant bonding". Frontiers in Psychology. 14 1176067. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1176067. PMC 10616966. PMID 37915523.
  10. ↑ Bode, Adam; Luoto, Severi; Kavanagh, Phillip S. (2025-02-24). "Sex differences in romantic love: an evolutionary perspective". Biology of Sex Differences. 16 (1). doi:10.1186/s13293-025-00698-4. ISSN 2042-6410. PMC 11849325. PMID 39994818.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Berscheid, Ellen (2010). "Love in the Fourth Dimension". Annual Review of Psychology. 61: 1–25. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100318. PMID 19575626.
  12. 1 2 Fisher, Helen; Xu, Xiaomeng; Aron, Arthur; Brown, Lucy (9 May 2016). "Intense, Passionate, Romantic Love: A Natural Addiction? How the Fields That Investigate Romance and Substance Abuse Can Inform Each Other". Frontiers in Psychology. 7: 687. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00687. PMC 4861725. PMID 27242601.
  13. ↑ Earp, Brian D.; Wudarczyk, Olga A.; Foddy, Bennett; Savulescu, Julian (2017). "Addicted to Love: What Is Love Addiction and When Should It Be Treated?". Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology. 24 (1): 77–92. doi:10.1353/ppp.2017.0011. ISSN 1086-3303. PMC 5378292. PMID 28381923.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 Bringle, Robert G.; Winnick, Terri; Rydell, Robert J. (2013-04-01). "The Prevalence and Nature of Unrequited Love". SAGE Open. 3 (2) 2158244013492160. doi:10.1177/2158244013492160. hdl:1805/15150. ISSN 2158-2440.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Fisher, Helen (March 1998). "Lust, attraction, and attachment in mammalian reproduction". Human Nature. 9 (1): 23–52. doi:10.1007/s12110-998-1010-5. PMID 26197356. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  16. ↑ Hendrick & Hendrick 2006, pp. 162–163
  17. ↑ Diamond, Lisa (Jan 2003). "What does sexual orientation orient? A biobehavioral model distinguishing romantic love and sexual desire". Psychological Review. 110 (1): 173–92. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.110.1.173. PMID 12529061.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Langeslag, Sandra (2024). "Refuting Six Misconceptions about Romantic Love". Behavioral Sciences. 14 (5): 383. doi:10.3390/bs14050383. PMC 11117554. PMID 38785874.
  19. ↑ Tallis 2005, pp. 121–132
  20. ↑ Zsok, Florian; Haucke, Matthias; De Wit, Cornelia Y.; Barelds, Dick P. H. (2017). "What kind of love is love at first sight? An empirical investigation". Personal Relationships. 24 (4): 869–885. doi:10.1111/pere.12218. hdl:11370/565d9e0f-48e8-45b9-993c-2a350e87217d. ISSN 1350-4126.
  21. 1 2 Bode, Adam; Kavanagh, Phillip S. (2025-06-01). "Variation exists in the expression of romantic love: A cluster analytic study of young adults experiencing romantic love". Personality and Individual Differences. 239 113108. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2025.113108. ISSN 0191-8869.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Acevedo, Bianca; Aron, Arthur (1 March 2009). "Does a Long-Term Relationship Kill Romantic Love?". Review of General Psychology. 13 (1): 59–65. doi:10.1037/a0014226.
  23. 1 2 3 Acevedo, Bianca; Aron, Arthur; Fisher, Helen; Brown, Lucy (5 January 2011). "Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love". Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 7 (2): 145–159. doi:10.1093/scan/nsq092. PMC 3277362. PMID 21208991.
  24. ↑ Bode, Adam; Kowal, Marta (2023). "Toward consistent reporting of sample characteristics in studies investigating the biological mechanisms of romantic love". Frontiers in Psychology. 14 983419. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.983419. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 10192910. PMID 37213378.
  25. ↑ Hatfield, Elaine; Sprecher, Susan (1986). "Measuring passionate love in intimate relationships". Journal of Adolescence. 9 (4): 383–410. doi:10.1016/S0140-1971(86)80043-4. ISSN 0140-1971.
  26. ↑ Fisher 2004, p. 64
  27. ↑ Hatfield, E. & Sprecher, S. The passionate love scale. In Fisher, T. D., C. M. Davis, W. L. Yaber, & S. L. Davis (Eds.) Handbook of sexuality-related measures: A compendium (3rd Ed.). (pp. 466-468). Thousand Oaks, CA: Taylor & Francis.
  28. 1 2 Aron, Arthur; Fisher, Helen; Mashek, Debra J.; Strong, Greg; Li, Haifang; Brown, Lucy L. (July 2005). "Reward, Motivation, and Emotion Systems Associated With Early-Stage Intense Romantic Love". Journal of Neurophysiology. 94 (1): 327–337. doi:10.1152/jn.00838.2004. ISSN 0022-3077. PMID 15928068. S2CID 396612.
  29. ↑ Tallis 2005, p. 79
  30. ↑ Fisher 2016, p. 21
  31. ↑ Langeslag, Sandra; Van Der Veen, Frederik; Fekkes, Durk (2012). "Blood Levels of Serotonin Are Differentially Affected by Romantic Love in Men and Women". Journal of Psychophysiology. 26 (2): 92–98. doi:10.1027/0269-8803/a000071. hdl:1765/75067.
  32. ↑ Leckman, James; Mayes, Linda (July 1999). "Preoccupations and Behaviors Associated with Romantic and Parental Love: Perspectives on the Origin of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder". Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 8 (3): 635–665. doi:10.1016/S1056-4993(18)30172-X. PMID 10442234.
  33. ↑ Marazziti, D.; Akiskal, H. S.; Rossi, A.; Cassano, G. B. (1999). "Alteration of the platelet serotonin transporter in romantic love". Psychol. Med. 29 (3): 741–745. doi:10.1017/S0033291798007946. PMID 10405096. S2CID 12630172.
  34. ↑ Zou, Zhiling; Song, Hongwen; Zhang, Yuting; Zhang, Xiaochu (21 September 2016). "Romantic Love vs. Drug Addiction May Inspire a New Treatment for Addiction". Frontiers in Psychology. 7: 1436. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01436. PMC 5031705. PMID 27713720.
  35. ↑ Tallis 2005, pp. 216–218, 235
  36. 1 2 Tennov 1999, pp. 29–33
  37. 1 2 3 4 Fisher 2016, pp. 21, 307
  38. 1 2 3 4 Murray, Sandra; Holmes, John; Griffin, Dale (January 1996). "The Benefits of Positive Illusions: Idealization and the Construction of Satisfaction in Close Relationships". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 70 (1): 79–98. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.1.79.
  39. 1 2 Song, Hongwen; Zhang, Yongjun; Zuo, Lin; Chen, Xueli; Cao, Gui; d'Oleire Uquillas, Federico; Zhang, Xiaochu (2019-01-11). "Improving Relationships by Elevating Positive Illusion and the Underlying Psychological and Neural Mechanisms". Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 12 526. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00526. ISSN 1662-5161. PMC 6336892. PMID 30687044.
  40. ↑ Modrek, Anahid; Caponigro, Janelle (25 March 2011). "Think Your Spouse is the Best? We Have Good News for You". Greater Good Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 June 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  41. ↑ Nuzzo, Regina (25 July 2011). "Rose-colored glasses may help love last". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 16 May 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  42. ↑ Kowal, Marta; Bode, Adam (13 April 2026). "Love Is Not Blind: It May Be Indifferent to Partners' Flaws, Unless It Involves Cheating or Aggression". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 55 (3): 1257–1267. doi:10.1007/s10508-026-03428-y. ISSN 0004-0002.
  43. ↑ Hatfield 1988, pp. 193–194, 197
  44. ↑ Hatfield & Walster 1985, p. 9
  45. ↑ Bajoghli, Hafez; Keshavarzi, Zahra; Mohammadi, Mohammad-Reza; Schmidt, Norman B.; Norton, Peter J.; Holsboer-Trachsler, Edith; Brand, Serge (August 2014). ""I love you more than I can stand!" – Romantic love, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and sleep complaints are related among young adults". International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice. 18 (3): 169–174. doi:10.3109/13651501.2014.902072. ISSN 1365-1501. PMID 24611539.
  46. ↑ Hatfield & Walster 1985, pp. 58, 104
  47. 1 2 Tennov 1999, pp. 24, 44–45
  48. ↑ Baumeister, Roy F.; Wotman, Sara R.; Stillwell, Arlene M. (March 1993). "Unrequited love: On heartbreak, anger, guilt, scriptlessness, and humiliation". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 64 (3): 377–394. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.64.3.377. ISSN 1939-1315.
  49. ↑ Hill, Craig A.; Blakemore, Judith E. Owen; Drumm, Patrick (20 May 2005). "Mutual and unrequited love in adolescence and young adulthood". Personal Relationships. 4 (1): 15–23. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.1997.tb00127.x. ISSN 1350-4126.
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  51. 1 2 3 4 Paquette, Virginie; Rapaport, Maylys; St-Louis, Ariane C.; Vallerand, Robert J. (August 2020). "Why are you passionately in love? Attachment styles as determinants of romantic passion and conflict resolution strategies". Motivation and Emotion. 44 (4): 621–639. doi:10.1007/s11031-020-09821-x. ISSN 0146-7239.
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  54. ↑ Hatfield 1988, p. 191
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  56. ↑ Fisher 2016, p. 20
  57. ↑ Tennov 1999, p. 16
  58. ↑ Hermans, Hubert J. M. (2025). "From Obsessive to Harmonious Passion". Psychological Richness As Breakthrough. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 95–120. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-99782-2_5. ISBN 978-3-031-99781-5. Retrieved 2026-06-24.
  59. ↑ Tallis 2005, p. 42
  60. ↑ Langeslag, Sandra; Muris, Peter; Franken, Ingmar (25 Oct 2012). "Measuring Romantic Love: Psychometric Properties of the Infatuation and Attachment Scales". The Journal of Sex Research. 50 (8): 739–747. doi:10.1080/00224499.2012.714011. PMID 23098269.
  61. ↑ "Sweet science! Love lasts longer than thought". NBC News. 20 March 2009. Archived from the original on 1 July 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  62. ↑ Graham, James (29 December 2010). "Measuring love in romantic relationships: A meta-analysis". Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. 28 (6): 748–771. doi:10.1177/0265407510389126.
  63. ↑ Love, Tiffany M. (April 2014). "Oxytocin, motivation and the role of dopamine". Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 119: 49–60. doi:10.1016/j.pbb.2013.06.011. PMC 3877159. PMID 23850525.
  64. ↑ Tallis 2005, pp. 216–218, 235: "There are certainly some striking similarities between love and addiction[.] [...] At first, addiction is maintained by pleasure, but the intensity of this pleasure gradually diminishes and the addiction is then maintained by the avoidance of pain. [...] The 'addiction' is to a person, or an experience, not a chemical. [...] [O]ne of the characteristics shared by addicts and lovers is that they both obsess. The addict is always preoccupied by the next 'fix' or 'hit', while the lover is always preoccupied by the beloved. Such obsessions are associated with compulsive urges to seek out what is desired [...]."
  65. ↑ Grant, Jon; Potenza, Marc; Weinstein, Aviv; Gorelick, David (21 June 2010). "Introduction to Behavioral Addictions". The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. 36 (5): 233–241. doi:10.3109/00952990.2010.491884. PMC 3164585. PMID 20560821.
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  75. ↑ Nestler, Hyman & Malenka 2010, pp. 147–148, 266, 364–367, 376: "Most [neurons which produce dopamine] have their cell bodies in two contiguous regions of the midbrain, the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA). [...] Neurons from the VTA innervate the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens), olfactory bulb, amygdala, hippocampus, orbital and medial prefrontal cortex, and cingulate cortex. [...] [D]opamine confers motivational salience ("wanting") on the reward itself or associated cues (nucleus accumbens shell region), updates the value placed on different goals in light of this new experience (orbital prefrontal cortex), helps consolidate multiple forms of memory (amygdala and hippocampus), and encodes new motor programs that will facilitate obtaining this reward in the future (nucleus accumbens core region and dorsal striatum). [...] Dopamine acts in the nucleus accumbens to attach motivational significance to stimuli associated with rewards (such as food). [...] The brain reward circuitry targeted by addictive drugs [...] includes the dopaminergic projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the mid-brain to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and other forebrain structures. [...] A reward is a stimulus that the brain interprets as intrinsically positive or as something to be approached. A reinforcing stimulus is one that increases the probability that behaviors paired with it will be repeated. [...] The neural substrates that underlie the perception of reward and the phenomenon of positive reinforcement are a set of interconnected forebrain structures called brain reward pathways; these include the nucleus accumbens (NAc; the major component of the ventral striatum), the basal forebrain (components of which have been termed the extended amygdala [...]), hippocampus, hypothalamus, and frontal regions of cerebral cortex. These structures receive rich dopaminergic innervation from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the midbrain."
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  78. ↑ Aron, Fisher & Strong 2006, p. 601
  79. ↑ Langeslag, Sandra J. E.; van der Veen, Frederik M.; Röder, Christian H. (13 January 2014). "Attention modulates the dorsal striatum response to love stimuli". Human Brain Mapping. 35 (2): 503–512. doi:10.1002/hbm.22197. ISSN 1065-9471. PMC 6869091. PMID 23097247.
  80. ↑ Bartels, Andreas; Zeki, Semir (27 November 2000). "The Neural Basis of Romantic Love". NeuroReport. 11 (17). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins: 3829–3834. doi:10.1097/00001756-200011270-00046. PMID 11117499. S2CID 1448875.
  81. ↑ Bartels, Andreas; Zeki, Semir (March 2004). "The neural correlates of maternal and romantic love". NeuroImage. 21 (3): 1155–1166. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.11.003. PMID 15006682. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  82. 1 2 Love, Tiffany M. (April 2014). "Oxytocin, motivation and the role of dopamine". Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 119: 49–60. doi:10.1016/j.pbb.2013.06.011. PMC 3877159. PMID 23850525.
  83. 1 2 Bode, Adam (16 October 2023). "Romantic love evolved by co-opting mother-infant bonding". Frontiers in Psychology. 14 1176067. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1176067. PMC 10616966. PMID 37915523.
  84. ↑ Bellamy, Tom (11 June 2025). "When the Love Hormone Is Not So Cuddly". Psychology Today. Retrieved 13 July 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  85. 1 2 Bode, Adam; Kavanagh, Phillip S. (November 2023). "Romantic Love and Behavioral Activation System Sensitivity to a Loved One". Behavioral Sciences. 13 (11): 921. doi:10.3390/bs13110921. ISSN 2076-328X. PMC 10669312. PMID 37998668.
  86. 1 2 3 4 Machin, A.J.; Dunbar, R.I.M (2011). "The brain opioid theory of social attachment: a review of the evidence". Behaviour. 148 (9–10): 985–1025. doi:10.1163/000579511X596624. ISSN 0005-7959.
  87. 1 2 Meier, Isabell M.; van Honk, Jack; Bos, Peter A.; Terburg, David (February 2021). "A mu-opioid feedback model of human social behavior". Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 121: 250–258. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.013. PMID 33359094.
  88. ↑ Machin 2022, pp. 51–62, 78–81
  89. ↑ Machin 2022, p. 56
  90. ↑ Machin 2022, p. 58

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