Los mitos del amor romántico pueden actuar como un guion con el que orientar los pensamientos, los sentimientos y los comportamientos en las relaciones de pareja. El objetivo de la presente ...investigación fue analizar la aceptación de los mitos románticos y su relación con el sexismo y otras variables procedentes de la socialización en la población adolescente de Castilla-La Mancha. La investigación cuenta con una muestra representativa de 1840 estudiantes de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, con una edad media de 14.67 años (DT = .89). Las personas participantes completaron la Escala de Mitos hacia el Amor (Rodríguez-Castro et al., 2013) y la Escala de Detección de Sexismo en Adolescentes (Recio et al., 2007). Los resultados muestran que el 54.7% y el 36.6% están de acuerdo con el mito de la pasión eterna y con el mito de la media naranja, respectivamente. La comparación de medias reporta diferencias estadísticamente significativas en la interiorización del amor romántico según el sexo, la tenencia de pareja, el curso educativo, la religiosidad y el consumo de pornografía. Por último, los análisis de predicción indican que los mitos de la dimensión Vinculación amor-maltrato pueden explicarse a partir del sexismo hostil y los mitos de la dimensión Idealización del amor, a partir del sexo, la religiosidad, la tenencia de pareja y el sexismo benévolo. Estos resultados pueden servir a la comunidad educativa para conocer el alcance de la ideología del amor romántico en la población adolescente y poner en marcha acciones preventivas que aborden las relaciones afectivas y fomenten la igualdad entre hombres y mujeres.
In this theoretical review, we examine how the roles of music in mate choice and social bonding are expressed in romantic relationships. Darwin's Descent of Man originally proposed the idea that ...musicality might have evolved as a sexually selected trait. This proposition, coupled with the portrayal of popular musicians as sex symbols and the prevalence of love-themed lyrics in music, suggests a possible link between music and attraction. However, recent scientific exploration of the evolutionary functions of music has predominantly focused on theories of social bonding and group signaling, with limited research addressing the sexual selection hypothesis. We identify two distinct types of music-making for these different functions: music for attraction, which would be virtuosic in nature to display physical and cognitive fitness to potential mates; and music for connection, which would facilitate synchrony between partners and likely engage the same reward mechanisms seen in the general synchrony-bonding effect, enhancing perceived interpersonal intimacy as a facet of love. Linking these two musical functions to social psychological theories of relationship development and the components of love, we present a model that outlines the potential roles of music in romantic relationships, from initial attraction to ongoing relationship maintenance. In addition to synthesizing the existing literature, our model serves as a roadmap for empirical research aimed at rigorously investigating the possible functions of music for romantic relationships.
Romantic love is a phenomenon of immense interest to the general public as well as to scholars in several disciplines. It is known to be present in almost all human societies and has been studied ...from a number of perspectives. In this integrative review, we bring together what is known about romantic love using Tinbergen's "four questions" framework originating from evolutionary biology. Under the first question, related to mechanisms, we show that it is caused by social, psychological mate choice, genetic, neural, and endocrine mechanisms. The mechanisms regulating psychopathology, cognitive biases, and animal models provide further insights into the mechanisms that regulate romantic love. Under the second question, related to development, we show that romantic love exists across the human lifespan in both sexes. We summarize what is known about its development and the internal and external factors that influence it. We consider cross-cultural perspectives and raise the issue of evolutionary mismatch. Under the third question, related to function, we discuss the fitness-relevant benefits and costs of romantic love with reference to mate choice, courtship, sex, and pair-bonding. We outline three possible selective pressures and contend that romantic love is a suite of adaptions and by-products. Under the fourth question, related to phylogeny, we summarize theories of romantic love's evolutionary history and show that romantic love probably evolved in concert with pair-bonds in our recent ancestors. We describe the mammalian antecedents to romantic love and the contribution of genes and culture to the expression of modern romantic love. We advance four potential scenarios for the evolution of romantic love. We conclude by summarizing what Tinbergen's four questions tell us, highlighting outstanding questions as avenues of potential future research, and suggesting a novel ethologically informed working definition to accommodate the multi-faceted understanding of romantic love advanced in this review.
In Western culture, romantic love is commonly a basis for marriage. Although it is associated with relationship satisfaction, stability, and individual well-being, many couples experience declines in ...romantic love. In newlyweds, specifically, changes in love predict marital outcomes. However, the biological mechanisms underlying the critical transition to marriage are unknown. Thus, for the first time, we explored the neural and genetic correlates of romantic love in newlyweds. Nineteen first-time newlyweds were scanned (with functional MRI) while viewing face images of the partner versus a familiar acquaintance, around the time of the wedding (T1) and 1 year after (T2). They also provided saliva samples for genetic analysis (
rs3,
rs53576,
rs4680, and
-7R), and completed self-report measures of relationship quality including the Eros (romantic love) scale. We hypothesized that romantic love is a developed form of the mammalian drive to find, and keep, preferred mates; and that its maintenance is orchestrated by the brain's reward system. Results showed that, at both time points, romantic love maintenance (Eros difference score: T2-T1) was associated with activation of the dopamine-rich substantia nigra in response to face images of the partner. Interactions with vasopressin, oxytocin, and dopamine genes implicated in pair-bonding (
rs3,
rs53576,
rs4680, and
-7R) also conferred strong activation in the dopamine-rich ventral tegmental area at both time points. Consistent with work highlighting the role of sexual intimacy in relationships, romantic love maintenance showed correlations in the paracentral lobule (genital region) and cortical areas involved in sensory and cognitive processing (occipital, angular gyrus, insular cortex). These findings suggest that romantic love, and its maintenance, are orchestrated by dopamine-, vasopressin- and oxytocin-rich brain regions, as seen in humans and other monogamous animals. We also provide genetic evidence of polymorphisms associated with oxytocin, vasopressin and dopamine function that affect the propensity to sustain romantic love in early stage marriages. We conclude that romantic love maintenance is part of a broad mammalian strategy for reproduction and long-term attachment that is influenced by basic reward circuitry, complex cognitive processes, and genetic factors.
Building on a long tradition of measuring cultural logics from a relational perspective, we analyze a recent survey of American university students to assess whether institutional logics operate in ...the lived experience of individuals. An institutional logic is an analytic troika of object, practice, and subject linked together through dually ordered systems of articulations. Using the formal method of correspondence analysis (MCA) we identify two latent dimensions that order physical, verbal, emotional, categorical, and moral practices of and investments in love. We take these dimensions as evidence of an institutional logic. The dominant first dimension is organized through talk of love, non-genital physical intimacies, and affective investment. It has no sexual specificity. The subsidiary second dimension is organized through moral investment and it has a genital sexual specificity. There is little difference between women and men, either in the way these dimensions are organized or in the location of men and women within these dimensionalized spaces. We find that romantic love has a situated material effect in terms of increasing the probabilities of orgasm.
In the inter-war period, Ortega y Gasset set out to construct a new modernity in which love disappeared. He established a close link between modernity and the regulation of amorous emotion, and ...between the latter and gender relations. The centrality of love in Ortega’s project of rectifying modernity explains the abundance of his writings on the subject, many of these addressed, somewhat veiled, to Victoria Ocampo. There are hardly any studies on Ortega’s writings on love and none at all from a gender perspective. This article is also in keeping with the growing interest in the topic of love in the field of gender studies.
En el periodo de entreguerras Ortega y Gasset se propuso construir una nueva modernidad en la que el amor habría desaparecido. Ortega establecía un estrecho vínculo entre la modernidad y la regulación de la emoción amorosa, y entre esta y las relaciones de género. La centralidad del amor en el proyecto orteguiano de rectificación de la modernidad explica la abundancia de sus escritos sobre el tema, muchos de ellos dirigidos de forma más o menos velada a Victoria Ocampo. No existen apenas estudios sobre los escritos de Ortega en torno al amor y ninguno desde la perspectiva de género. El presente artículo se inscribe además en el creciente interés dentro de los estudios de género por el tema del amor.
No período Entreguerras, Ortega y Gasset partiu para construir uma nova modernidade na qual o amor teria desaparecido. Ortega estabeleceu uma estreita ligação entre a modernidade e a regulação da emoção amorosa, e entre esta última e as relações de gênero. A centralidade do amor no projeto de retificação da modernidade de Ortega explica a abundância de seus escritos sobre o assunto, muitos deles dirigidos de forma mais ou menos velada a Victória Ocampo. Quase não há estudos sobre os escritos de Ortega sobre o amor e nenhum sobre uma perspectiva de gênero. Este artigo também faz parte do crescente interesse pelos estudos de gênero sobre a temática do amor.
In this non-systematic review, we consider the sample reporting practices of 42 studies up to and including 2021 investigating the biological mechanisms of romantic love (i.e., 31 neuroimaging ...studies, nine endocrinological studies, one genetics study, and one combined neuroimaging and genetics study). We searched scientific databases using key terms and drew on our and other authors' knowledge to identify studies that investigated the mechanisms associated with romantic love using neuroimaging, endocrinological, and genetic methods. Only studies with a group or entire sample experiencing romantic love were included. The aim was to collate all relevant studies and determine the comparability of studies and ability to assess the generalizability of findings. We summarize how these studies report sex/gender, age, romantic love, relationship duration/time in love, and sample descriptors. We then outline the case for promoting comparability and the ability to determine generalizability in future studies. The findings indicate a limited ability to compare studies' samples or make an assessment of the generalizability of findings. Existing studies are not representative of the general population in a particular country or globally. We conclude by presenting ideas about how best to report sex, age, romantic love characteristics, relationship status, time in love, relationship duration, relationship satisfaction, type of unrequited love, sexual activity, cultural characteristics, socio-economic status, student status, and method-relevant descriptors. If our ideas are adopted, in part or in whole, we expect the comparability of studies to increase. Adopting our ideas will also make it easier to make an assessment of the generalizability of findings.
Introduction
Violence against women is a global health problem, and gender violence is a multifactorial phenomenon generally attributed to the fact of living in a patriarchal culture setting.
Methods
...A systematic review and meta-analysis conducted in the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, LILACS, MEDES, Web of Science, CUIDEN, ENFISPO, IBECS, Dialnet and Cuidatge. Inclusion criteria: quantitative design, Spanish population, Spanish, English, Portuguese and/or French language, no time restriction and use of the Myths about Love Scale. Data was collected and analysed from July to October 2020. A total of 146 records were identified, of which, after applying the eligibility criteria, 12 studies were included, and 6 met the criteria for the meta-analysis. The descriptive and prevalence analysis was performed by means of StatsDirect. In all the analyses, statistical significance was considered at
p
< 0.05 and the CIs, at 95%.
Results
The most accepted myths were those related to love idealization: the
eternal passion
,
marriage
,
omnipotence
and
perfect match
myths. The least accepted myths were those of the
couple
,
jealousy
and
love-maltreatment link
. Men and women accepted the myths in a similar manner, although the former showed more participation in
jealousy
and in
love-maltreatment link
.
Conclusions
The study contributes a current perspective about the beliefs regarding the love myths that can be a conditioning factor in love relationships and a risk factor for gender violence. The bet is on preventive education and socialization at all levels, as well as on the deconstruction of the concept of romantic love and its myths to foster healthy and egalitarian relationships.
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