The purpose and scientific motivations for human relationships and bonding comes down to lust, attraction and attachment. Each of these three have their own set of hormones. Testosterone and estrogen drive lust. Serotonin drive attraction and oxytocin and vasopressin drive attachment. When we feel the right cocktail of those hormones, we feel the complex emotion of love.
The American Psychological Association defines love as “a complex emotion involving strong feelings of affection and tenderness for the love object,” as well as "positive sensations in their presence, care for their well-being, and sensitivity to their opinions." Many describe love as a relationship between two people that makes them feel a certain way. We sum this up with one word, love which I personally think is overly simplistic because the love I feel for a sibling is quite different than the love I feel for Kevin or the love I feel toward my boyfriend. In some relationships, love can feel like something you can't give enough of while in other relationships love can feel like an obligation. We can feel levels of love for someone shortly after meeting them and we can feel love for people years after they have passed away.
But, beyond these definitions, how exactly does love work? Let’s talk through some of the chemistry, biology, and evolutionary aspects of love and sexual/interpersonal relationships. The greeks for example have many words for love and each is very difference nuance to this complex emotion.
Men in modern society are seen as lust driven monsters who will act on every sexual opportunity that presents itself in front of them, often by force or coercion. Married women, children, nobody is safe from a man in heat. While sexual predators exist, this couldn't be further from the truth. When sexual scarcity exists, some men become more dominant while others retract to emotion. When there is a scarcity of food, some people will start a farm and others will steal food from others. Sex is a resource like food, water, housing and money and you can trade any of those resources for sex. The oldest profession in the world, prostitution is proof that sex is a a resource. This doesn't mean that all men are monsters, it simply means that like all humans, men are driven by resource accumulation. Attaining a sexual resource is staking your ownership claim on a woman as the modern institution of marriage is often seen.
In my mind, love is the motivation emotion. If I love you, I'll drive across the country for you, I'll give you money, maybe I would even die or kill for you. If you need to bury a body, you know the short list of people you can call that will help you and there is no doubt that every last person on that list loves you. Does it matter if it is mutual? It often does but sometimes unreciprocated love can be every bit as strong or even stronger if the person feels like it may motivate the favor of the other person.
Sexual activity in pair bonds is associated with the activation of subcortical structures that support basic motivational and physiological processes which mediate complex thinking, empathy, and other processes that make us feel a greater level of well-being. In human relationships, partner preference and pair bonding is greatly influenced by sex. While our sex drive for many women is noticeably stronger during ovulation, we have sex in times when pregnancy is unlikely or nearly impossible. Satisfying sex is seen as an indicator of good health and an influencer of partner preference. Orgasm is a rush of those sex hormones and also increases the chances that men and women will select that partner again for a sexual encounter. A reward for a job well done, if you will. Many couples feel an intense physical closeness after orgasm while others repel their partner after orgasm.…