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Scientifically in Love

There have been hundreds of thousands songs centered on the theme of love. Little did these singers/songwriters know that love isn’t just an emotion, it’s all in our heads. Robert Weiss’ article, “Unmasking the Neurobiology of Love,” goes into great detail explaining how love is a science and not just an emotion. There has even been studies done to analyze certain areas of the brain when shown pictures of significant others and pictures of other individuals. The findings are mind blowing. According to the studies that Weiss has provided in his article, dopamine is released in the brain when someone is intensely in love with an individual. When dopamine is released, we get the feelings of happiness, satisfaction, etc. The studies also found that this intense love motivates a person to want to obtain a reward. This gives them pleasure. The conclusion of these studies shows that love is motivated by goals and is more than just an emotion. In other words, we want to be with our beloved because of how it makes us feel. I agree with that except for the fact that there are some relationships that are very abusive. I think that should be factored into this study. There was another study that was done that linked love with sexual desires. Sexual love and desires, according to Weiss, both activate the pleasure center in the brain; however, love only activates the emotion part of the brain. I understand this study, but I think it was a complete waste of time. People are attracted to other people, even if they’re not in a relationship with them. This is how affairs happen. This was the only part of the article that I wasn’t impressed with. Weiss then goes on to discuss a thought that love can be an addiction. He compared love addiction to cocaine and crack addictions. I don’t necessarily agree with this either. I can see what Weiss is trying to say, but it doesn’t matter how in love with someone I am. If you’re terrible to me, I will leave. It doesn’t matter if I’m attacked or not. I will leave. I have been in that situation before. I can see where some people feel like there is no way out. There are rehabs for drug addicts and alcoholics, but there are no rehabs for people who are in love. Why is that? Love isn’t an addiction. It can be an obsession. You can be completely obsessed with your partner and what they’re doing. That’s borderline crazy, but it’s not an addiction. I do think that love is a science. It has been proven that dopamine is released when you see pictures of your significant others. Your body responds differently to those pictures than it does to pictures of other individuals. With that being said, I don’t think that it’s an addiction. I also don’t think love is co-created. It’s definitely inside our heads, but it’s also inside our hearts. Why else would our hearts feel so heavy when we’ve had a heated argument with our partner? What about when they become severely ill? Love may be a science, but it is also very much an emotion that can break us down but in a different way than an addiction does. Robert Weiss put a great deal of work and research into this article. It has definitely helped people who may have felt like love has done them wrong or people who are love struck. While he has valid points and extensive evidence for his claims, I still don’t agree with some of the things he argued in this article. Love is different for everyone. You can’t base a study off of a couple relationships that are really good. You have to have to incorporate all different kinds of relationship to get a good idea of what love really looks like in the brain. Like I said, it’s different for everyone. Weiss, Robert, "Unmasking the Neurobiology of Love" Huffington Post 11 Arpil 2013. Rpt. in Perspectives on Argument. 8th ed. By Nancy V. Wood and James S. Miller. Boston: Pearson. 2015. 449-51. Print

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