Cate Perfect Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 This is from The Week Volume 3 Issue 134. Your Brain on Eros That giddy rush of infatuation is not an emotion, says a new study in Science. Rather, it's a pleasure-seeking drive, like a craving for chocolate or drugs. Researchers at Rutgers University used MRIs to scan the brains of seven young man and 10 young women who said they had been madly in love with someone for one to 15 months. These people all topped the charts on a lab measure called the Passionate Love Scale, agreeing strongly with statements like, "Sometimes my body trenbles with excitement at the sight of [my partner]." Researchers showed the subjects photo of their beloveds, interspersed with photos of other familiar people. The brains of the infatuated people, as they viewed their love objects, showed increased activity in the pleasure-seeking reward-system region--not in the areas where emotion registers. In fact, when people are in the earliest stages of lust, researchers say, their brain patterns resemble those of people with obsessive-compulsive disorders. I always knew there was something off about those people. I remember learning about how 'love' is just part of a chemical release in psych class in college, but it was nice to have a the info directly in front of me. *cuts out and keeps article* Cate Link to post Share on other sites
Jayann Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 I can definitely see why the experience known as love would be associated with those regions and patterns of the brain. It reminded me of this quote from an old thread called "Relationships with sexuals," under the Asexual Q&A forum: What is love? Gratitude for past fullfillment combined with the expectation of future fulfillment. Most people don't like to think of it this way. But love really is very selfish, isn't it? Even in attempting to please the other we are in fact attempting to earn their gratitude, in hopes that this will lead to future "rewards." Link to post Share on other sites
XpandoraX Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 i'm a strong advocate of selfishness. if you can't be happy, what's the point? you have to be selfish sometimes. so long as you're not hurting anyone else. and besides, they're being just as selfish as you are. Link to post Share on other sites
Cate Perfect Posted December 2, 2003 Author Share Posted December 2, 2003 Are you an Ayn Rand fan? I bet you'd like her. She was a BIG proponent of selfishness. Wrote huge books about it. I'm not against people being 'in love', what I don't like is how the media and people in relationships think they're having some deep spiritual connection when it's actually pheromones and the urge to feel good. It's not profound in a way that makes them more special than anyone else. Call it what it is. 'I want to be with you because you set off certain chemicals in my brain that makes me happy.' Then again, that doesn't really play into the 'Romance is the reason for living' line of bs we're sold from the time we're little. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go have a profound and spiritual connection with a blackcurrant tart I'm going to eat...no, wait, I'm going to eat it because it makes me feel good. It's so easy to confuse those two things. Cate Link to post Share on other sites
XpandoraX Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 i'm not a big fan of material selfishness, so i don't think ayn rand is for me. i've only read anthem. thanks for the reference, though. i plan on reading her works if i ever graduate. however, emotional selfishness is important to me. when something makes me and my friends mutually happy, it's selfish for me to want to encourage that environment, perhaps, as i'm using the situation to fulfill my personal desires, but i'm going to do it anyway. but i agree that lovers have no special bond over friends. just a little more shared nastiness. i knew i was in love with the one i'm with when i realized that he made me feel the exact same way that my best friend who i am not in a relationship with does. nothing more. Link to post Share on other sites
JKReagan99 Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Is something really selfish when you think of someone else first? So you are happy when someone else is happy...does that make you selfish? I think people should strive to be happy, but I don't think that happiness is necessarily selfish... Link to post Share on other sites
Jayann Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Well...in a way it is. The desire to see someone else happy is rooted in a depper desire for them to reciprocate. If you were striving for the good of someone else, but all you got back was a complete lack of response, or even hostility, your desire to please the other would diminish. Because you are not getting anything out of such a relationship. Nobody wants to live in a state of unrequited love. Unless, of course, you're masochistic, or perhaps histrionic, and derive some kind of pleasure from wallowing in your misery. In which case, there is something else wrong with you. Link to post Share on other sites
OrganicPainCollector Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 For me Love is Like Faith. People seemed to be so blinded by them... However, logically I know what they are, and so I doubt I will ever be blinded by either. Not that I *wish* I had either, but have you ever wondered what an experience that powerful would be like? Or maybe its the simplicty of the subject that is a prerequisite of such an experience. Just another musing, for a non~muse. exit. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 That was a very interesting article. *Stores in memory bank* Now the truth is right there for everyone to see - that the relationship between me and my CDs is no different that the relationship between them and their fuckbuddy. (Except I am not at all physical with my CDs...) Link to post Share on other sites
bard of aven Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 That was a very interesting article. *Stores in memory bank* Now the truth is right there for everyone to see - that the relationship between me and my CDs is no different that the relationship between them and their fuckbuddy. (Except I am not at all physical with my CDs...) Which probably saves wear and tear on the cd player......... boa Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Yes, and doesn't void the warranty. Link to post Share on other sites
Zorui Posted December 2, 2003 Share Posted December 2, 2003 Love is an illusion, Mr. Anderson. If someone tells me romance is the reason to live, i'll kill them. Link to post Share on other sites
JKReagan99 Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Well...in a way it is. The desire to see someone else happy is rooted in a depper desire for them to reciprocate. If you were striving for the good of someone else, but all you got back was a complete lack of response, or even hostility, your desire to please the other would diminish. Because you are not getting anything out of such a relationship.I'm still not completely sure though, when someone would be willing to die to save the person they love, I'm not sure I would consider that love selfish. I think people can derive happiness from others being happy without reciprocity... Link to post Share on other sites
VivreEstEsperer Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 The early stages of lust resemble in the brain someone who has OCD...now THAT's the most interesting thing I've heard all day. Although, if having OCD is what lust feels like, then I don't ever want to have lust! (kidding) Kate Link to post Share on other sites
Gorax Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Like a craving for drugs . . . I suppose the health risks are the same. Link to post Share on other sites
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