There is undoubtedly a phrase almost everyone has heard: Love at first Sight!
This well-known theory has been up for debate too many times to count, and the idea of it has been around since the early ages of man. So what makes people fall in love “at first sight,” and is it really even possible?
The dictionary describes “Love” as “a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.” Now, the idea of what Love consists of could be debated all day due to the fact that it is different for each person. What people mostly associate love with is Loyalty, Trust, Ability To Communicate, Etc, so the idea of “Love at First Sight” may seem as a bit of a stretch. How can one know the morals of another human being by simply just a glance? Since the term “sight” is associated with appearance and looks, it clarifies that “Love at First Sight” is based around sexual attraction and the “love” one may feel, is just a feeling of infatuation.
Nonetheless, there will always be speculators, “first hand” experiences, and those that suffer from hopeless romanticism. This belief of mutual love and soul mates even had been marveled by famous philosophers, such as Plato, who believed that when our souls came unto earth, they were split in two and a half was put into another person, thus when the two met, there was a feeling of unity and completeness. On the other hand, British logician and philosopher Bertrand Russel states in his “Knowledge by Acquaintance and Description”
This states that we only connect and feel deeply about things that we have been aquatinted with, therefore opposing the idea of “Love at First Sight.”
The word “Love” is a very broad word. It can refer to infatuation, deeply caring, or being romantically drawn towards someone, so it is highly probable that people are talking about different kinds of love at first sight. There is a blooming love and there is lust. This then opens the question of how quickly can one fall in love? When you fall in love with a person, your brain releases chemicals that make you feel good. Your body wants to feel that way often, so a sense of attachment is developed. So in theory: Love = attachment. For the brain to become attached to someone at first sight is possible, there just has to be a sense of the need for long-term attraction triggered in the brain at a high speed. Examples of the brain making such decisions include deciding whether or not you like someone when you first meet them or determining how attractive you deem someone.
However, studies have shown that some long-lasting and healthy relationships have branched from “Love at First Sight,” proving that physical attractiveness does play a role in love/ relationships. This also proves that love isn’t “blind” either! Physical attraction is proven to contribute to a a satisfactory relationship, as more than 50% of men say a woman’s face and/or body make them more attractive, as well as 50% women say face attractiveness is important while 39% say the same about men’s bodies.
All in all, “Love at First Sight” is pretty much just infatuation, it is choosing to love the other person after the infatuation fades that makes it true love.
