Romance and friendship

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momentary experience of love helps intimate partners remain committed to each other (love as a commitment device, lead to the following three hypothesis)

experience of love: love would correlate with approach-related states,

display of love: experience of love would be encoded in a distinct non-verbal display that is readily interpreted by observers

outcome of love: the first two will correlate with commitment-related perceptions and behaviours evoked by threats to the bond

momentary experience of love helps intimate partners remain committed to each other (love as a commitment device, lead to the following three hypothesis)

recent studies focus: how emotion regulate interpersonal relationships

human survival depends on the formation of -cooperative alliances, -long term mating relationship, successful reproduction

emotion: short term in the moment responses to the problem and opportunity of social relationships, emotion related experience

expressive behavior

cognitive processes and physiology help individuals to meet the demands of these relationships in spontaneous interactions

Attachment theory and evolutionary theory: argued that emotions help individuals form and maintain reproductive relations (e.g. desire motivate sexual behavior in response to physcial markers of attribute in potential mates that might confer to evolutionary advantage to offspring)

other reasons to why humans enter into a long term intimate relations

romantic partners face commitment problem when maintaining this long term bonds: remain committed to one another in the face of alternatives that might appeal to momentary self interest but pose obvious threat to the relationship

love as a commitment device in 2 ways: experience of love motivates approach toward an intimate partner(then reduce approach towards competing alternative), in the absence of the partner, likely to countervail feelings of desire for others + the outward expression of love in word, deed and gesture communicates commitment to intimate partners enhance processes that protect and strengthen the bond.

commitment is one of the 3 components of love- companionate love that refers to the affection we feel for those with whom our lives are deeply interwined

similarly, love is associated with a desire to enter or maintain a close relationship with a specific other person