Breaking News

These are the 20 best travel destinations for summer 2024, according to Google Flight Searches 3 Google Maps updates to make summer travel easier SPACECENT is up the new war zone > United States Space Force > Article Display Tuberculosis — United States, 2023 | MMWR Thousands of US bridges are vulnerable to collapse from a single hit: NTSB Why don’t the Blazers or ROOT Sports offer standalone streaming? Up to 200,000 people estimated to travel to Vermont for total solar eclipse How fast will April’s total solar eclipse travel? The UN Security Council demands a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan Mexico in the emerging world order

Developmental psychology may explain why magical thinking is central to love.

In this age of science, many people see supernatural forces as illusions rooted in the concept of will. However, love remains a profound exception to the human evolution toward rationality.

People are used to seeing romantic love presented as a force connected to a person’s destiny, as in the reality show “Bachelor.” It’s a concept that’s simultaneously laughable and suddenly relatable to anyone who’s ever been in love and felt their partner compulsively “meant.” Our research suggests that these magical ideas of broken love and special soulmates are common and deeply felt.

Since psychologists are interested in why humans think, feel, and act the ways they do, we ask a fundamental question: Why does love feel so magical? We hope that answering this question can shed light on the long-standing confusion of people who have been plagued by love. Do you blindly trust your heart to lead you to happiness, even though chaos is as much a part of love as happiness is? Or should you consider with skepticism the trend of magical thinking about love, striving for logic in the search for a perfect relationship?

Romantic love can be all-encompassing – and it seems to be universal across time and societies.

What is love and what does it want from me?

Far from being the latest invention of poets or reality TV producers, romantic love has been part of human nature for thousands of years. In fact, love letters written 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia are remarkably similar to those written today. On the same subject : Young authors bring their books to Vallejo. Although cultures differ in their stories and expectations of romantic love, the phenomenon seems to be unusual. In addition, our research suggests that magical concepts of broken love and soulmate are common and deeply felt.

But why is love a natural part of the human psyche? Our research examines this question through the lens of developmental psychology.

Evolutionary psychology is based on the idea that people think and act the way they do today because, over hundreds of thousands of years, our ancestors who had traits that caused them to think and act that way were more likely to survive. and they produce, so they are beyond the useful ones. , or “adaptive,” next-generation features. In this way, the human brain has evolved to prioritize things that contribute to survival and reproduction, such as nutritious foods and those likely to raise healthy offspring.

From this point of view, how did the confusing feeling of falling in love and the irrational belief that one’s relationship is “wanted” helped our ancestors to survive or reproduce? According to one explanation, the key to the ancient purpose of love is in the lease.

Read also :
[1/4] A man stands outside his tent during the cold weather in…

Love is like signing a lease

Why do people agree to long-term housing contracts? After all, the tenant may soon find a better apartment and the landlord may find a better tenant. Read also : Lawrence Arts Center’s ‘Making It Work’ exhibit pairs with Black Lunch Table events and portrays the intersection of fatherhood and art.

The simple answer is that looking for the perfect apartment or tenant is such a frustrating and expensive process that both parties are better off making a long-term commitment to an imperfect but good enough deal. A signed rental agreement provides an important bond, which prevents the testing of other options from destroying their effective arrangement.

When it comes to choosing partners, people face the same commitment problem. Humans probably evolved to prefer monogamous relationships that are at least sufficient for co-parenting children. Given the magnitude of this commitment, there is plenty of incentive to get it right by finding the best possible partner.

However, finding a suitable partner is a powerful and difficult resource. In other words, dating sucks. To solve the commitment problem and successfully pass on your genes, it’s generally best not to endlessly pursue complementarity, but instead to commit to an adequate partner. Therefore, development may have created a love for biological lease, both for solving the commitment problem and for providing the “drug reward” for this solution.

Although love originally evolved because it supports sexual reproduction, love is still a part of the lives of gays, lesbians, and other people who do not reproduce sexually. Scientists who have studied the evolution of same-sex attraction have argued that romantic relationships can provide adaptive benefits even without sexual reproduction. Importantly, diversity is the engine of evolution – from a strictly developmental perspective, there is no single “normal” or “ideal” form of being.

Are you traveling to Germany? Here's what Americans need to know.
To see also :
Airborne transmission differs from droplet transmission in that it refers to the…

Love keeps you committed

After you have gone through the exciting phase of falling for a partner, love helps you secure commitment in many ways. Read also : The 20 Best Video Game Endings of All Time.

First, it makes other potential mates look dull. Compared to single people, individuals in satisfying relationships rate positive others as less attractive. This shift in perspective makes the couple seem more malleable in comparison and thus discourages the couple from pursuing other romantic options.

Second, love leads to jealousy, a “friend-watching” habit that encourages vigilance and defense against those who might threaten your relationship. Although jealousy is a burden with extremely negative consequences, developmental psychologists argue that it can help prevent infidelity and other people’s attempts to steal your partner.

Finally, as our team investigates in ongoing research, the “meaning” above the stories people tell about love can increase their confidence in the value of their relationships.

Love magic is part of what can keep a couple committed for the long haul.

On the same subject :
Dec 30 (Reuters) – Binance’s $1 billion acquisition of bankrupt crypto lender…

Why magical beliefs about love may be useful

Our work examines how magical thinking can be adaptive even though it is based in fantasy. Unlike a lease, emotions are often messy and unpredictable. More than just a sense of connection, believing in a story that suggests your relationship is magically “meant” can give you a reason to stick together for the long haul.

Although the magical belief of romantic love is actually false, if it helps to strengthen the long-term commitment of a good partner, it fulfills an adaptive purpose and therefore can be considered “so reasonable depth.” As neuroscientist Karl Deisseroth put it, love is “an impossible relationship that becomes possible through its existence.”

So even if love magic doesn’t make logical sense, it makes sense for love to feel magical. Our reading of the research suggests that love magic helps people make the big commitment required to successfully pass on their genes.

Don’t overthink it

But what do you do with the knowledge that the magic of love exists to fulfill the true mission of evolution to pass on your genes to future generations, instead of leading to happiness or even the right vision of reality? We can certainly improve the advice of many contestants on the “Bachelor” to “follow your heart,” so blindly that you believe you will find meaning in the pursuit of biological necessity.

Yet, there is a lot of truth in that statement. If you rebel against that magical thinking, you may think your way through one of life’s greatest gifts.

This article was first published on The Conversation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *