The Science of Love

Who knew that love was a science? I certainly did not before last lecture, which I found to be quite fascinating. All along people thought love was so evolved and exclusive, when really it is part of our more primal brain, the reward system, rather than newly developed structures within it. Dr. Brown’s research focused primarily on early stage romantic love, a stage in romantic love that is cross-cultural, universal phenomenon. In multiple ways, romantic love appears to be a disease more than an expression on affection for another human being.

For example, Dr. Brown gives symptoms of early stage romantic love including: intrusive thinking, overlooking faults, intense energy, difficulty to sleep, loss of appetite, mood swings, and an intense craving for the other person. These symptoms seem to be indicative of a new anti-depression drug, which is more true than false. People who break up experience real physical and mental pain and trauma afterwards, similar to a drug addict going through withdrawal.  Dr. Brown considers romantic love to be a more developed form of mammalian drive to pursue preferred mates and made a point to say there was a difference in the brain between sexual arousal and romantic love. Her research reveals that people do need love, because love is rewarding to people; they get high from it. She gives physiological proof from the reasons why Madame Bovary kept moving from one lover to the next, because when she would move out of the early romantic love phase, she would grow bored with the man and need to find someone new indefinitely. It also shows why the relationship between The Bad Girl and the good boy worked so well, because each time they would experience the early stage love again and again.