From the Flutters of Butterflies to the Ties That Bond: The Science Behind Love and Attachment
What are the Mechanisms Underlying Anticipation of Love in Order to Form Attachments?
The concepts of love and attachment have always intrigued scholars, clinicians, and agents of social change. From the initial rush of sexual attraction that is often compared with ‘butterflies in the stomach’, to the depths of intimacy that one can cultivate over a sustained period of time, these peculiar feelings are significant in restoring the human bond. For instance, in recent years, interdisciplinary approaches have helped to study the biology and psychology of love and attachment.
The affections and bonding have been known to receive influence from oxytocin hormone as it is commonly known as love or bonding hormone. Resonantly oxytocin is secreted in response to sights sounds or actions even such as touch eye contact or cuddling” (Hill, Litzinger, Dorough, Kivlighan, & Glick, 2010). Research has indicated that oxytocin also functions to generate higher levels of trust, empathy and closeness in people. This neurohormone is quit significant in women during labor and lactation because it enhances the bond between the mother and the infant.
In addition, neuroscientific findings have shown the relationship between love and brain functions. Studies in brain imaging such as fMRI have shown that the areas of the brain responsible for reward are activated when a subject looks at pictures of a loved one or at an activity the subject performed with that person. These include the nucleus accumbens and its VTA whose brain structure is involved in the reward circuitry associated with appetite activities.
The theory of attachment also allows for an analysis of love and bonding behaviors within an individual. The attachment theory which is the brain child of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth states that one’s attachment style later in life is dependent on the experiences of the infants with their primary caregivers in most cases the parents. Relationships with adults devoid of fear of rejection or loss but rather involve a sustaining bond of trust and effective management of emotions contribute to more positive outcome as opposed to those in which there is fear of loss and in some cases rejection.
In addition, on the other side of human behavior science lies the explanation on why humans engage in pair bonds for extended periods of time with certain individuals mostly one individual only. Mating unit strategies consist of those which maximize reproductive success through a focus on the appealing qualities of individuals such as physical attributes illustrating health; wealth which is often associated with social standing and privilege etc. and are referred to as evolutionary theories such as parental investment theory and attachment theory adaptations.
Biosociopsychology loves establishes the position on how love moves from temporary excitement to lasting attachment over time taking into consideration the butterflies that are inside us to the bonding that is outside us finally embeds the human experience in a wide variety of interaction systems that influences deeply our feelings, actions and relations in yet fulfilling the basic desire of unity, which is related to the state of affairs with love in its complex and dynamic description.