Our primordial drive for sex and love | Helen Fisher
Big Think・7 minutes read
Helen Fisher discusses the biological basis of love and marriage, highlighting the brain systems associated with sex drive, romantic love, and deep attachment, each serving unique evolutionary purposes. Fisher's research shows that rejection in love triggers brain regions linked with pain and addiction, emphasizing the importance of maintaining all three brain systems through regular sex, novelty, and physical touch for a long-term, happy partnership.
Insights
- Helen Fisher challenges the notion of the mind as a blank slate, highlighting the biological underpinnings of human behavior, especially in the realm of love and marriage.
- Fisher's identification of three brain systems tied to mating and reproduction, along with her research on the neurological correlates of romantic love and long-term relationships, underscores the intricate interplay between biology and emotions in shaping human connections.
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Recent questions
What are the three brain systems related to mating?
Sex drive, romantic love, deep attachment
What brain regions are associated with romantic love?
Ventral tegmental area, dopamine production
How does rejection in love affect the brain?
Triggers pain and addiction-related regions
What brain activity is observed in long-term relationships?
Activity in regions associated with romantic love
How can individuals sustain a long-term, happy partnership?
Engage in regular sex, seek novelty, physical touch
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Summary
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Biological origins of love and marriage explained
- The speaker, Helen Fisher, challenges the idea that the mind is a blank slate, emphasizing the biological origins of human behavior, particularly in love and marriage.
- Fisher identifies three brain systems related to mating and reproduction: sex drive, romantic love, and deep attachment, each serving distinct evolutionary purposes.
- Through brain scanning, Fisher discovers the brain regions associated with intense romantic love, including the ventral tegmental area that produces dopamine, leading to feelings of focus, motivation, and elation.
- Fisher's research reveals that rejection in love triggers brain regions linked with pain and addiction, demonstrating that romantic love, when rejected, operates similarly to addiction.
- Long-term love is also explored, with brain scans of individuals in their fifties and sixties in happy, long-term relationships showing activity in brain regions associated with romantic love, sex drive, and feelings of calm and security.
- To sustain a long-term, happy partnership, Fisher recommends maintaining all three brain systems by engaging in regular sex, seeking novelty to sustain romantic love, and engaging in physical touch to enhance feelings of deep attachment.
