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Love’s not only blind but mad, say scientists
The Sunday Times ^ | February 13, 2005 | Roger Dobson and Sarah-Kate Templeton

Posted on 02/12/2005 4:50:36 PM PST by MadIvan

PEOPLE who feel compelled to behave irrationally on Valentine’s Day tomorrow may not entirely be to blame for their actions. Scientists have found evidence that love really is blind.

Scans of lovers’ brains show that they lose their critical faculties when smitten, making them less able to spot flaws or potential problems.

The blackout could be the reason lovers are said to behave impulsively and why incompatible couples make whirlwind marriages they later regret.

Professor Semir Zeki of University College London has been studying lovers’ brain scans and will present a paper on the research later this year. “The scanning shows that love activates specific regions in the reward system of the brain, while reducing activity in the systems involved in making negative judgments,” he said.

“Our research shows that the brain deactivates the networks used for critical social assessment and negative emotions while it bonds individuals through the reward circuitry. This explains the power of love to motivate and exhilarate.”

The scans showed that, in people involved in romantic relationships, the most activated parts of the brain were those which respond to oxytocin and vasopressin, hormones involved in the forming and maintaining of relationships.

Just which neurochemical suppresses areas of the brain responsible for critical judgments is not clear, although dopamine is a suspect.

Phillip Hodson, a relationship counsellor and author of How to Make Great Love to a Woman and How Perfect Is Your Partner? warns lovers against acting impulsively during the passionate first stages of a romance.

“People should not take any major life decisions when they are in this giddy state of love. People end other perfectly good relationships, they chuck in their marriage to run off with a Gambian beachcomber.”

This recklessness has been seen in celebrity marriages. The singer Britney Spears decided to wed her old friend Jason Alexander after a drinking spree, only to have their union annulled 55 hours later.

Hodson says: “I would advise people to enjoy their love affair knowing that this isn’t going to happen more than two or three times in a lifetime but they should realise it is akin to being mad. You become deranged and lose your ability to reason.”

The consequences of letting passion override rational judgment has been a common theme in literature. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, for example, Malvolio is persuaded to grin continuously and wear ridiculous cross-garters after he is conned into thinking that it is the wish of his beloved.

The scientists, however, do believe the suppression of critical judgment may have a useful purpose as it helps relationships to get started.

Professor Pamela Regan of California State University said: “If you don’t sweep away the person’s flaws to some extent, you’re likely to end a relationship.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: love; valentinesday
Happy Valentine's Day.

Regards, Ivan


1 posted on 02/12/2005 4:50:41 PM PST by MadIvan
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To: LadyofShalott; Tolik; mtngrl@vrwc; pax_et_bonum; Alkhin; agrace; lightingguy; EggsAckley; ...

Ping!


2 posted on 02/12/2005 4:50:58 PM PST by MadIvan (One blog to bring them all...and in the Darkness bind them: http://www.theringwraith.com/)
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To: MadIvan

"People who feel compelled to behave irrationally on Valentine’s Day tomorrow may not entirely be to blame for their actions."

Yay!!! Another story that that beats the psychobabble drum that people aren't responsible for their behavior and have little control of themselves!


3 posted on 02/12/2005 4:57:06 PM PST by MisterRepublican (Liberalism kills.)
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To: MadIvan

I thought this was a thread about Prince Charles...


4 posted on 02/12/2005 4:57:30 PM PST by Mr Rogers
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To: Mr Rogers
I thought this was a thread about Prince Charles...

I was waiting for someone to say that. :)

Regards, Ivan

5 posted on 02/12/2005 4:58:02 PM PST by MadIvan (One blog to bring them all...and in the Darkness bind them: http://www.theringwraith.com/)
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To: MadIvan
Mickey Gilley new that in the seventies.

Ha!

6 posted on 02/12/2005 5:05:38 PM PST by mdittmar (May God watch over those who serve to keep us free)
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To: MadIvan
Who among us didn't know this?

BTW, Camilla killed Princess Di. I could bore you with details of my conspiracy theory, or you could just accept it on blind faith. Many people who don't even know me have already chosen the second option.

7 posted on 02/12/2005 5:05:54 PM PST by Alien Gunfighter (Draw!)
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To: MadIvan
Gothic in the Dress in all black, have statues of Gargoyles in your room, and do not like the light of Day?


Does it mean something else in Good ole Britain?
8 posted on 02/12/2005 5:08:45 PM PST by LauraleeBraswell (Forgive Russia, Ignore Germany, Punish France - Condoleezza Rice)
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To: MadIvan
I WAS worried...7 minutes had passed, and I was so sure I wouldn't be first!


9 posted on 02/12/2005 5:13:44 PM PST by Mr Rogers
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To: MadIvan
Professor Semir Zeki of University College London has been studying lovers’ brain scans and will present a paper on the research later this year.

Evidently this bloke gets payed for this kind of crap studies. Who and why in hell wants to know this stuff, and why do they pay jerks to supposedly find out? I want a freakin' gubbmint grant to study the brain functions of "artists" and their supporters who think a crucifix in a bottle of urine is art. I want a gubbmint grant to study the brain functions of freakin' marxist members of our gubbmint who want to enslave me and all with their crazyassed ideas! JHC, just give me a gubbmint grant to study my own ass to find out why I sit on it.

FMCDH(BITS)

10 posted on 02/12/2005 5:22:51 PM PST by nothingnew (There are two kinds of people; Decent and indecent.)
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To: MadIvan

11 posted on 02/12/2005 5:23:43 PM PST by Solamente
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To: MadIvan
Love of a partner is part sexual, physical, intellectual, spiritual, emotional and social.

God gives us the gift of attraction to certain members of the opposite sex as a cosmic build up to that most divine of things, the conception of a child. Love is a continuum of ever expanding concentric circles. A good partnership is part of this expansive boundary of affection.

A good tip for all couples, is never to believe or think that you know everything about your partner. We are all potentially depth-less in our potential. Two people continually growing together will never get bored of each other for too long.

Happy Valentines Day to all the Free Republican couples.
12 posted on 02/12/2005 5:33:32 PM PST by Red Sea Swimmer (Tisha5765Bav)
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To: MadIvan
"Love is merely a madness, and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do: and the reason why they are not so punished and cured is, that the lunacy is so ordinary that the whippers are in love too."
--Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act III, Scene I.
13 posted on 02/12/2005 5:58:03 PM PST by boris (The deadliest weapon of mass destruction in history is a leftist with a word processor.)
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To: MadIvan
"When you finally say you're his,
Shivering and sighing,
And he swears his passion is
Infinite, undying;
Lady, make a note of this:
One of you is lying."
--Dorothy Parker
14 posted on 02/12/2005 5:59:55 PM PST by boris (The deadliest weapon of mass destruction in history is a leftist with a word processor.)
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To: MadIvan

Madly in love ..........


15 posted on 02/12/2005 6:48:13 PM PST by RedWhiteBlue
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To: MadIvan
oxytocin and vasopressin, hormones

That's the O and the V. What are the L and the E?

16 posted on 02/12/2005 6:50:51 PM PST by RightWhale (Please correct if cosmic balance requires.)
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To: MisterRepublican

I'm not so sure this is psychobabble. Doesn't everyone get giddy and high as a kite when they first fall in love? The good doc is warning not to make decisions in that state, which is really good advice.


17 posted on 02/12/2005 6:57:59 PM PST by Veto! (Opinions freely dispensed as advice)
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To: MadIvan
As the French say - amour le fou. One in a lifetime comes along an obsessive love that burns you to the depths of your soul.

Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."

18 posted on 02/13/2005 5:45:04 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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