Track 10

Unit 6

Anthropology/biology

The science of love

Pages 56 and 57

Listen for main ideas and listen for details

Who here seen a romantic comedy or read a romance novel or even met a special someone and felt that tug of romantic love? Most of you but maybe not all. Just how universal is this notion of romantic love? Any ideas? Well, anthropologists have identified romantic love in almost every human culture. For instance, one recent study showed that 147 out of 166 cultures had some form of romantic love. This suggests that romantic love is at least partly biologically-based. There’s also a social science to romantic love which is where I’m going to begin today.

Anthropologists describe romantic love is a high-intensity social ritual. A ritual being a prescribed form of conducting a formal ceremony. Now, this may seems surprising because we are not usually aware following any kinds of rules when we fall in love but in fact fallen in love does have the four major characteristics of a ritual.

The first characteristic of a ritual is that it brings people into a face-to-face contact. Clearly romantic love does this. People who are in love, want to spend as much time together as possible. The second characteristic of the ritual is that it focuses people’s attention on some common object or activity. With romantic love the common object is the couple itself. For people in love other people and activities seem to fade away.

Now the third characteristic of a ritual is it promotes mutual emotion but among the participants. Obviously, romantic love qualifies here. Few other experiences can surpass in its intensity. This is why romantic love is described as a high intensity ritual.

The final characteristic of a ritual is that it produces an emotionally charged symbol that represents membership in some group. Well, what are some of the symbols in romantic love? In Western cultures love is associated with heart shaped objects and rings. For instance a wedding ring symbolizes the couple’s love and commitment. We all know how importantly symbols can be. For instance, losing a ring for example can cause a lot of anxiety. So be careful with those symbols.

Now, let’s look at what’s happening in your brain and in your body when you feel the emotion that we call romantic love. Recent research indicates that there is a biochemical basis to love. So there’s a good reason why people in love feel as if they’re in a different and more beautiful world. Their brain is literally flooded by hormones and chemicals that cause them to feel the way they feel.

We can break the process of falling in love into three fairly distinct phases based on the hormones and chemicals dominant in each phase. In the first phase the hormones testosterone and estrogen play important roles. Although testosterone has a reputation as a male hormone, it is also present in women and it has many effects on the brain. One of which is to make us seek partners and to be alert to the presence of possible partners. So in essence these hormones get us out looking for and then noticing prospective partners to fall in love with.

It’s in the second phase where people have the feeling of being in love. Here, some powerful amphetamines are released into the brain. Amphetamines are a kind of stimulant, right? They make us feeling alert. Well, two of these amphetamines are dopamine and phenethylamine, also known as PEA. Dopamine has a physical effect on our body. It increases our heart rate and blood pressure and seems to make us more talkative. It also has a powerful psychological effect invoking feelings of pleasure and excitement. And it enhances our emotional responses to things.

The other chemical released in this phase is PEA. PEA is a neurotransmitter which means it increases the electrical signals between the neurons in the brain. This makes us feel euphoric. It’s the chemical that makes us smile a lot. When we’re first in love, and feel like we’re in some kind of heavenly world but because our body develops a tolerance to PEA, the euphoric feelings gradually disappear.

And that brings us to the final phase of love which is concerned with longer-lasting commitment and detachment. The first important compound in this stage is endorphins. Endorphins are natural painkillers that give us a sense of security and feelings of peace and calm. They basically improve our mood.

Our brain also secretes hormones that play a role in the formation of social attachments. One such hormone is oxytocin, sometimes called the caudal chemical. Oxytocin seems to produce the feelings of relaxed satisfaction and attachment to another person.

Now, as you might imagine, there is some resistance to the idea of love being determined by brain chemistry and hormones. Do you know where this resistance might come from?