Reply to comment

I really enjoyed hearing everyone's thoughts regarding the nature of love and how we should define it.  I agree with Vidya in that we are thinking of love as a disease, something that we can define by certain "symptoms."  Although we read an article about animals being gay, it seems as though we agreed that love is a human emotion, or at least that we can't say that two animals are "in love."  Instead, as scientists, we say that they are pair bonded.  This reflects the same type of thinking that leads us to try to qualify the symptoms of love.  I agree with he rest of the class in that I would not feel comfortable telling someone that they were not in love when they believed that they were.  However, I also don't know if I would feel comfortable telling someone they were not depressed, or did not have an problem with anxiety if they did not meet the criteria outlined in the DSM.  They may not be clinically defined as having the disorder, but once a person feels that they have a problem, I believe that it should be considered a problem.  It is difficult to define an emotional state, especially a powerful emotional state such as love, and make decisions about if you are not the person feeling that emotion.  Love is not a problem, but I think that even without the "symptoms" of love, people can still feel love.

I also enjoyed our discussion of what makes research or exploration scientific.  Is it possible to "scientifically" study love?  It may not be possible, although we can try to find ways to study what we believe is love.  If we take the word of people who say they are in love, the real question is if there is anything in common in the brain activity of people who are in love.  This question seems to have been answered to some extent by the studies that show increased activity in certain brain areas when viewing pictures of loved ones.  Researchers have tried to interpret these brain areas as components of the feelings of love.  But these results could probably be interpreted in different ways.  It would be interesting to come up with other ways to study the brain activity involved with love, perhaps using DTI to show pathways that have been strengthened.  Before and after imaging of love would be informative, although it would be difficult to find people who were definitely going to fall in love.