The Psychology Behind Love

          Love is a feeling that while is unexplainable to most humans, can be turned to science to be explained.  The intense, positive and elating feelings can be contributed to the release of various hormones.  When you first meet someone you're attracted to, the body feels energized and the heart begins to beat heavily and rapidly.  This is because hormones such as oxytocin, phenethylamine, and dopamine are released, making us feel more alert and excited.
         
          Psychologists have classified love into three stages: lust, attraction, and attachment.  Lust is the first stage, driven primarily by the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen.  The second stage is attraction, characterized by the release of adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin.  Adrenaline is responsible for the sweating, heart racing, and mouth going dry associated with when you see someone you love.  Dopamine is a pleasure causing hormone; it increases energy, decreases the need for sleep and food (or the effects of getting less sleep or food), and increases focus.  This stimulation of the brain can have the same effects as using cocaine.  Serotonin involves the brain's ability to think and process information, so it is typically found in low levels of people who claim to be in love.  This is why when you're in love, all you can seem to do is think about the other person.  One study was performed on twenty couples who claimed to be "madly in love" for the past six months, and compared their serotonin levels to those of people with obsessive compulsive disorder.  The levels of the hormone were found to be about the same.  The third stage, attachment, is the stage that allows couples to be together for most, if not the remainder of their lives.  This is primarily caused by two hormones, oxytocin and vasopressin.  Oxytocin is released after a woman gives birth, giving her the deep connection with her child.  Studies found that animals, like rats and sheep, who had their release of oxytocin blocked actually rejected their own offspring.  This hormone can also be found in the brains of romantic couples.  Oxytocin and the other hormone involved in this stage of love, vasopressin, are both released after sex which is proven to make relationship bonds stronger.

            
                              Just for fun
          This is an experiment that a psychologist came up with on "how to fall in love."  His steps are:
                       1.   Find a complete stranger
                       2.   Reveal to each other intimate details about your lives for half an hour
                       3.   Stare deeply into each other’s eyes without talking for four minutes
          While this may sound crazy, the psychologist's subjects who he had try this method felt "deeply attracted" after the 34 minute experiment, and one couple even went on to get married.


 

http://source.southuniversity.edu/the-psychology-behind-love-and-romance-70700.aspx
http://www.youramazingbrain.org/lovesex/sciencelove.htm