Love is a complicated subject full of myth and mystery. You can love your partner but sometimes feel like you’re from entirely different planets! As confusing as love is, I was surprised to learn that there’s a science to it. Here are some interesting facts about love that might help you see it in a clearer light:
Couples Who Resemble Each Other Are Quite Common
Have you noticed that some couples look eerily alike? Like they look more like relatives instead of romantic partners? It’s more common than you might think, and there’s a scientific reason behind this phenomenon. Scientists at the University of Liverpool studied this event.
They discovered that our brains favor faces like ours and our families. When they gave 200 study participants several digitally altered images of human faces, they unanimously chose faces with features they recognized in themselves or their loved ones.
A sense of security and comfort comes with familiar things, so our brains subconsciously latch onto those who look most like us. There’s also a primal drive behind this behavior. People want to mate with someone with the same features as them because it ensures their offspring will look as much like them as possible.
Falling In Love At First Sight Is Possible
We’ve all watched movies or heard stories of people falling in love at first sight. People like to say they just looked at each other, and the rest was history. That they instinctually knew they were meant to be together. Well, there’s a scientific explanation for this as well.
Psychologists have discovered that a woman is perceived as more attractive if she looks at a man upon entering a room. It doesn’t matter what man she looks at; it has the same effect. Researchers at Dartmouth University did a study where they had men look at photos of models’ faces.
Some models faced the camera and made direct eye contact, while others looked at something off-camera. When asked to rate the likability and attractiveness of each model, the men consistently rated the ones looking straight at the camera as more likable and attractive.
The models who looked at something else were not only considered less likable but also described as unpleasant! The researchers concluded that a woman’s gaze is a powerful tool and that nonverbal communication is one of the most significant factors in forming impressions. Therefore, looking at each other and immediately falling in love is possible.
Knowing It Was Meant To Be Is More Than A Feeling
Have you known someone who just “knew” they and their partner were meant to be together after the first meeting? It turns out that we do know “it” when we see it. “It” being the person who is appealing to us and who we want to make a life with. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania studied the behavior of singles.
They discovered that people don’t need much time or information to know whether or not they’re interested in a person. They found that men and women mainly used visual cues to determine potential compatibility within minutes of meeting someone.
Our instincts and “gut feelings” play a significant role in helping us choose our partners. The researchers were surprised that factors you would think would be most important to people, things like education, income, values, and religion, actually played a minimal role in their decisions. It all came down to that first impression and the feeling they got.
The other factors only come into play after we decide that we like this person and want to get to know them better. When we like someone, we find a way to make the other factors work, even if they pose a challenge. Our bodies do know a lot more than we give them credit for!
Being Crazy In Love Is A Real Thing
You may have heard people in new relationships say they’re going crazy, but you just thought they were kidding. Well, this can happen. According to researchers at the University of London, love can make people feel like they’re going crazy. One reason is that falling in love causes the serotonin levels in our brains to drop.
This decrease in serotonin creates a feeling of mania and obsession. It also raises a stress hormone in our body called cortisone. This increase causes our blood pressure to rise and makes it difficult to fall asleep. As if these things weren’t enough, looking at our new love interest suppresses the neural circuits that control social judgment.
Hence the phrases “blinded by love” and “seeing them through rose colored lenses” come from. We physiologically can’t help but give our new love a pass regarding what is normal and what should be a red flag. Our brain “pauses” that part initially until our bodies adapt to being with a new person.
Once we spend enough time with them, our bodies and neural circuits return to normal, and we can see things for what they are. Our hormones find a balance and stop fluctuating so wildly, which helps us stop obsessing over this newfound person and increases our sleep quality.
As I mentioned earlier, love is complicated and hard to understand. If you’re having trouble understanding your relationship, you might look into getting a psychic reading with an authentic psychic advisor.
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