The Biology and Psychophysiology of Love as Interpersonal Attraction

This chapter describes various biological and psychophysiological foundations of attraction. Among those are the neurophysiological mechanisms involved in interpersonal attraction. The chapter presents the evolution of the autonomic nervous system and primitive brain regions, explaining neural activity and neurophysiological pathways associated with interindividual attraction in animals and humans. Several sections of this chapter review the research in psychoneuroendocrinology that investigated the role of hormones associated with interpersonal attraction. Among those are testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins. This chapter also presents the studies that have explored the genetic foundations of interindividual attraction and how genetic similarities and differences of individuals attract to reach the optimal genetic similarity conducive to the survival and evolution of species. The chapter explains the concept of imprinting and how animals imprint attraction and attachment in their early lives. Familial and sexual forms of imprinting shape different types of interindividual attraction. The last two sections of the chapter provide an overview of the evolutionary perspectives on mating, interindividual attraction, and attachment, as well as the early evolutionary origins of love as interpersonal attraction.