What do you think when it comes to the topic of love? Is it a basic biological connection among species, or is it more than that? Nowadays, the film industry has completely abandoned this term. Most people saw love as the spiritual and physical connection between two opposite genders. But research shows that love is more than that. Love and happiness are the two main pleasant sentiments. Both bring peace to our lives. Today, we will see love from a different perspective.
| We are going to discuss Love as an emotion. The connections between happiness and love. Love from different perspectives. Why do we as humans seek emotional connections? |
Love as an emotional response?
Love is defined as unspecified, undefined complex emotions towards others. This can be shown in our approaches, behavior, and attitude via deep affections, respect, connectedness, and sometimes jealousy.
Today, “love” has become a central topic to discuss. Some psychologists didn’t consider love as an emotion, but others clearly define it as an emotional response. Unfortunately, we can’t find a specific definition of love. The topic has various definitions from different perspectives. Some defined it as a basic function of reproduction, while others defined love as an emotional contract between people to perform daily functionalities. Some define love as a connection to the divine, while others define love as a deep connection between two opposite sexes. Yet we didn’t find a specific definition of the term. Below, we are going to discuss the definitions given by many schools of thought. So, let’s jump into it.
Biological perspective of love.
The biological perspective often focuses on the role of neurotransmitters, like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. These neurotransmitters give rise to feelings of happiness, inner satisfaction, and pleasure. It says love is the role of neurotransmitters that give us a reward to stay with a partner. We prefer to make connections with people who evoke such emotional
Evolutionary perspective of love.
The evolutionary perspective sees love as a primary functionality to survive in the world. Evolutionary theories focus on the concept of “survival of the fittest”. According to the concept, those creatures survive in societies that first accept the environmental changes and evolve accordingly. So, the evolutionary perspective sees love as a survival function. The mutual emotions like love, respect, and authority hierarchy in a society are an essential part of survival. The better species make their copies through reproduction, while the weaker ones do not.
Somehow, biological and evolutionary perspectives share similar thoughts on the topic. But they have clear differences as well. The biological patterns focus more on the role of neurotransmitters, while the evolutionary perspective sees love as the primary functionality for the survival of the species and cultures.
Psychological perspective of love
Although psychology sees love from every perspective. Love is also an emotional pattern, just like other bodily emotions. Every creature in the world has some sort of emotions. The creature, like humans, shows different emotions depending on the situation and consequences. We all have to maintain some emotional attachments with others to maintain a better life. We can’t live alone in this universe.
In today’s fast-paced world, humans need to work more and more to create better opportunities. The need for more opportunities makes it harder to feel the real glimpses of happiness. This process makes us prone to various psychological disorders. People often feel uncomfortable, overwhelmed, and excessively worried due to excessive expectations. Some basic emotions, like belongingness, love, and mutual respect, provide emotional support to cope with heavy psychological pressures.
Social/cultural perspective of love.
Social and cultural perspective of love. Society and culture view love as a collective behavior among members of society. It usually sees love as the mutual harmony, respect, peace, and cooperation among social animals(individuals). However, love execution might be a little different between individualistic (American and European) and collectivistic societies(Asian, e.g., Indian societies). Mutual respect, value, and peaceful relationships exist in every corner of the world. So society sees love as a mutual contract between society members.
Why do we as humans seek emotional connections
We cannot live alone in the world; we need emotional connections to survive. Every living creature in the world carries emotions, and these emotions are essential for our survival. Sometimes emotions like fear and anxiety keep us safe from dangers in the world, and on the other hand, emotions give emotional support so that we can avoid tension and psychological burnout. Here we will see why, as human beings, we need emotional connections.
Security and safety. In ancient times, our ancestors lived in bands to protect themselves from predators. But nowadays, we live in societies, have citizenship, so that we can ensure our safety and security, achieve basic needs, and get these facilities, we have to live with cooperation in society.
Love as emotional support. Every species in the world lives in groups so that they can get emotional support. Not only humans but every living thing in the world has emotions, sentiments, and reactions. When we face bad times, we get emotionally broken; at that time, we need friends, family, siblings, and other society members for emotional support. We have to cope with our bad experiences or depend on them for emotional support.
Collective growth. Love, respect, and honor are the sentiments really necessary for personal growth. We perform better when there is a peaceful environment around us. Our loving words, feelings, or thoughts towards each other lead us towards positive growth.
Conclusions
Love does not have a single definition, although love is more than a simple romantic idea or a biological process. It can be understood through a different perspective. Perspectives such as biological, evolutionary, social, and cultural views, as well as regional contexts, define love differently. Love affects our lives in multiple ways. It also affects how we grow together and fulfil our emotional needs. We, as human beings, can’t spend our lives lonely, so we seek emotional connections for emotional support, security, belonging, and a sense of connection.
In today’s fast-paced world, we suffer from stress, anxiety, depression, emotional burnout, and other mental issues. Love, belongingness, mutual respect, and emotional connections are necessary to control those psychological pressures. By understanding the importance of basic emotions (love and belongingness), we can better understand ourselves first. After that, we value our relationships with others, and also admire the deep connectedness with other people and creatures. This gives us gratitude for what we have.
