New research on the ways in which monogamous mammals form their bonds is beginning to reveal dopamine-related addictions triggered by various odors in the selected mate. Throw away that deoderant! In other words, monogamy is a form of chemical addiction, and that might have lessons for humans. One experiment analyzed the brains of students who described themselves as madly in love:
The results were surprising. For a start, a relatively small area of the human brain is active in love, compared with that involved in, say, ordinary friendship. “It is fascinating to reflect”, the pair [of researchers] conclude, “that the face that launched a thousand ships should have done so through such a limited expanse of cortex.” The second surprise was that the brain areas active in love are different from the areas activated in other emotional states, such as fear and anger. Parts of the brain that are love-bitten include the one responsible for gut feelings, and the ones which generate the euphoria induced by drugs such as cocaine. So the brains of people deeply in love do not look like those of people experiencing strong emotions, but instead like those of people snorting coke. Love, in other words, uses the neural mechanisms that are activated during the process of addiction. “We are literally addicted to love,” Dr Young observes.
Fascinating. And depending on your particular chemical make-up, monogamy might be easier or harder. What the ancient philosophers understood – that lust, romantic love and friendship are very different states of being – is being slowly borne out by science. Friendship or long-term bonding is the most complex and important for social stability. But as humans, we are bound to screw it up – or at least be tempted to.
THE ‘M-WORD’: The marriage debate has come down to a word: who owns “marriage”? Here’s why I think it should be available to both straights and gays.
The Dish 