Cognitive-Emotive Complexes
Let us consider important cognitive-emotive complexes that are mislabeled as
“emotions.” For example, humans use the term “love’ in a variety of ways. If you
examine individual uses of the term you will discover references to packages of
tendencies, stories, social conventions, appetites, feelings and emotions. Love
is described in error as a discrete “emotion.” We recognize that the
experience of euphoria that lovers enjoy is a persuasive but transient feeling.
However, when lovers promise long-term devotion and live together, they are
involved in complex and evolving dynamics that engage every part of their body
and mind. The “love” that they refer to is a variable, cognitive-emotive complex
and not a single emotion. Naïve lovers may expect that that the early euphoric
feelings of falling-in-love will continue forever and will be disappointed when
they discover that euphoria is transient and may only recur in special
circumstances.
Love
The word “Love” is a fuzzy word, often used to refer to any and all the
emotive and cognitive forces that bind people together. “Love’ is complex and no
simple explanation of love will do. Love is often referred to as an “emotion”
although on closer investigation, the term “love” includes different ingredients
such thoughts, feelings and several emotions. Love is not a single emotion nor
even a coherent mix of emotions. Love is a biosocial complex inflected at
different levels of intensity and meaning. Sometimes, love is just a word that
fails to have much meaning.
The experience of falling in love is a package deal, separate from other
meanings of the word "love". Falling in love involves a complex of feelings,
perceptions and cognitions designed by DNA to bring two people together in a
tight, exclusive bond that supports reproduction. Falling-in-love is a special,
temporary suspension of “normal” rules of interaction that keep people at a
distance, more or less fixed in a social matrix.
Romantic love is temporary glue that sticks two people together and is most
evident in younger people choosing a mate. The essential feature of falling in
love is a fascination with another person coupled with a drive to be with them
and to protect them. Fisher suggested that lust, attraction, and attachment are
features of three brain systems involved in courtship, mate selecting,
reproduction, and parenting. Lust is the sex drive, the craving for sexual
gratification. Romantic love is characterized by obsessive thinking, deep
dependency on the relationship, and a craving for union with one individual. A
couple is elated when things are going well, but suffer terribly when things are
going poorly.
Successful bonding creates feelings of contentment and
a sense of long-term commitment to the partner. This
exclusive focus is deviant from all other social involvements that require lower
intensity attention to many people. Males idealize their loved one and
suspend business as usual in favor of serving the needs of their potential
spouses. Females are overwhelmed with maternal feelings and fantasies of home,
the family, and enduring devotion and support of the male. Both lovers will tend
to fell euphoric and powerful; their devotion can overcome all obstacles and
accomplish wonders.The “emotional” components of falling in love are
observable behaviors that distinguish lovers from ordinary folk on the street
and at home.Lovers hold hands, walk arm-in-arm, hug, kiss and make love
often.
When humans touch gaze with pleasure and touch each other each with care and
concern, we talk about “tenderness”. Tender, affectionate behavior is seen in
the best moments that lovers share and in the best care offered by a mother to
her young children. The feelings associated with physical intimacy are mostly
pleasurable. A kiss can induce a remarkable euphoria in seconds. The importance
of positive feelings of affiliation cannot be overestimated. In primates for
millions of years, proximity, touching and grooming are essential to individual
well being and to social order.
Falling in love is not a smooth ride, however. While pleasurable feelings,
tenderness and concern tend to occur in the early stages of falling-in-love, the
pleasant feelings soon diminish and are interrupted by more routine, negative
feelings that emerge in the mix and will often dominate the couple’s experience.
Lovers will display a variety of emotions: affection, laughing, crying, anger,
fear and grief will all be displayed in the course of a romance. Jealousy is
another cognitive-emotional complex that accompanies love. This parade of
conflicting emotions is essential to the “love story.” Who could write Harlequin
romances without them? Selfish genes are at work in the background setting up
the strongest possible bonding force and the biggest reward for compliance, but,
alas, the benefits of the mating program are short-lived and other forces are
soon at work to disengage the couple.
Falling-in-love euphoria has an expected duration of a few days to months.
Romance can be prolonged by separating the couple so that they yearn for each
other and develop elaborate fantasies that emphasize the pleasures of being
together. The quick way to end romantic bliss is to live together. Since
the bliss of falling in love is short-lived, couples must move into a second
stage of their “love” relationship to stay together. This requires a more
conscious, deliberate adaptation. Bonding can deepen as the couple spends more
time together and map into each other's daily schemas. Sleeping and eating
together are potent bonding activities. If the couple remains affectionate,
grooms each other and plays together, the bond becomes stronger. The support of
family and friends is crucial for the longevity of a developing relationship.
The couple’s ultimate success depends on their social compatibility and
ability to help each other achieve common goals. In the best case, intense
feelings are replaced by more sustainable affection and concern for the welfare
of the other.
One model of altruistic love is maternal devotion to children. The ideal
mother is deeply bonded to her children, is self-sacrificing and unusually
attentive to the needs of her children. While romantic love briefly contains the
elements of maternal love and may lead to lead to marriage, pregnancy and
life-together, the biological basis appears to be short-lived leaving the bonded
couple in need of other motivations and constraints to sustain their
relationship. The ideal mother attracts a supportive man and sustains his
interest in the children by providing affection, sexual favors and sharing the
labor of maintaining a home. The ideal mother’s love for her children is
unconditional and lasts a lifetime, but the love of the father or fathers of the
children is conditional and may be short-term. The ideal father provides
protection and support, devoting all his resources to one mother who has given
birth only to his children.
